90,000 Toowoomba residents considered obese, overweight

TOOWOOMBA is one of Queensland’s most overweight cities, with almost 90,000 adults and youths considered overweight or obese.

Toowoomba is considered an overweight city.

TOOWOOMBA is one of Queensland’s most overweight cities, with almost 90,000 adults and youths considered overweight or obese.

The Garden City has been considered obese in many studies over the past few years, and with World Obesity Day today, Australia’s Health Tracker by Area data shows alarming statistics.

According to the data, more than 40% of adults were found to be obese in parts of rural Queensland, while 23% of the central Brisbane population are obese.

Australia’s adult obesity rate has risen 27% in the past 10 years to almost a third of the population.

Two thirds of Australian adults are now overweight or obese, placing them at higher risk of diabetes, some cancers, heart disease, arthritis and dementia.

Toowoomba follows this pattern with 36.3% of our adult population obese, the equivalent to 43,237 people.

However more than two thirds, or 68.5%, of the adult population are considered overweight or obese, rising the figure to 81,231 people.

When it comes to the city’s youths 2744 people are classified obese, making up 7.6% of the population, while 8912 youths, or 24.8%, are overweight or obese.

The Mitchell Institute for Education and Health Policy has warned action was needed to target prevention strategies.

Professor Rosemary Calder said something needed to be done to prevent more people becoming overweight.

“We have spent too long as a nation expecting individuals to be able to change their behaviour to reduce their weight,” she said.

“However, the evidence is very clear that this has little chance of success without a very strong focus on the environmental factors in the places where we live that contribute to poor nutrition and inactivity.”

Prof Calder said policy change was needed at every level government.

“The establishment of a national preventive health taskforce by the Federal Minister for Health is an essential first step in the right direction,” she said.

“It is vitally important that governments at all levels focus on collectively addressing the impact of where we live on our health.”

She said places with the highest rates of obesity, also have much higher rates of smoking, inactivity and chronic illness and are largely low-socio-economic communities, highlighting the impact of poverty on health.