As I'm sure all us Americans are well aware of, we've been the butt of the world's fat jokes for quite awhile now. Well, great news! We're no longer the fattest country in the world! That title now belongs to Australia who managed to beat our 25% obesity rate by 1%.
Australia World's Most Obese Nation
Australia is world's fattest nation | NEWS.com.au
"It's a record we shouldn't be proud of: Australia has overtaken the US as the world's most obese nation.
The report, Australia's Future Fat Bomb, finds 26% of adult Australians (that's almost 4 million people) are now obese. That's an increase of 1 million since the last count in 1999. By comparison, America has a 25% obesity rate.
"That, unfortunately, makes us the heavyweight champions, a title we don't really want," said report author Professor Simon Stewart, who is also head of preventive cardiology at the Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute in Melbourne.
"I would regard this as the biggest threat to our future health," he said.
"As we send our athletes off to the Olympics, let's reflect on the fact that we would win the gold medal now in the world fat Olympics if there was such a thing.
"The health care system is going to be overwhelmed by weight-related hospitalisations from knee replacements through to heart attacks and strokes.""
Australia World's Most Obese Nation
Australia is world's fattest nation | NEWS.com.au
"It's a record we shouldn't be proud of: Australia has overtaken the US as the world's most obese nation.
The report, Australia's Future Fat Bomb, finds 26% of adult Australians (that's almost 4 million people) are now obese. That's an increase of 1 million since the last count in 1999. By comparison, America has a 25% obesity rate.
"That, unfortunately, makes us the heavyweight champions, a title we don't really want," said report author Professor Simon Stewart, who is also head of preventive cardiology at the Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute in Melbourne.
"I would regard this as the biggest threat to our future health," he said.
"As we send our athletes off to the Olympics, let's reflect on the fact that we would win the gold medal now in the world fat Olympics if there was such a thing.
"The health care system is going to be overwhelmed by weight-related hospitalisations from knee replacements through to heart attacks and strokes.""