It’s a western world problem. Not just the Americans. The Canuks are just behind. Apparently the women are a bit still slimmer.
We’re fatter than ever
Obesity rates up for nearly all ages
Biggest jump in teens 12 to 17
ELAINE CAREY
MEDICAL REPORTER
For the first time in over a quarter of a century, Statistics Canada has measured how fat Canadians really are — and the results are not healthy.
Almost a quarter of Canadian adults are obese and another third are overweight — numbers that have risen dramatically since they were last measured in 1978 — which puts 14 million people at serious risk of health problems, StatsCan reported yesterday.
The situation is equally bleak for Canadian children, where the obesity rate has more than doubled from 3 to 8 per cent or 500,000 young people.
The biggest increases were among teens aged 12 to 17 —hooked on computers, television and fast food — where the rate of obesity tripled to 9 per cent and the increases were all at the higher end of the weigh-in scale.
Adult obesity rates rose in every age group except those 65 to 74. The “most striking upturns” were among those 25 to 34 where they more than doubled to 21 per cent and those over 75, which rose from 11 to 24 per cent.
StatsCan used the Body Mass Index (BMI) to measure obesity, which is calculated by dividing weight in kilograms by height in meters squared.
Obesity levels are divided into three classes from high to extremely high and the biggest increases were in the top two categories. The very high rate more than doubled to 5.1 per cent of adults and the extremely high rate tripled to 2.7 per cent
The survey also showed that a high BMI was linked to higher rates of adult diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease.
A diet low in fruit and vegetables, little physical activity and socio-economic factors were all linked to obesity. Men in higher income households are more obese as are women from middle-income homes.
That’s because rich men and middle-class women work too hard, are stressed and have no time to exercise, said Dr. David Jenkins, a University of Toronto professor and world expert on nutrition.
Many also live in large homes in the suburbs where “nobody walks and they have to set out early and come home late to beat the rush hour to get to work,” he said. “They could exercise but they don’t. They spend their lives burning themselves out trying to support these mansions they never get to.”
Marguerite Neri, general manager of Weight Watchers’ southwest Ontario district, said people used to join her organization to shed a few pounds before a big event. Now, many are signing up because of serious obesity and health problems.
“Our average client is 20 per cent heavier than they were 20 years ago,” said Neri, who has also battled a weight problem.
StatsCan sent out a team of 750 researchers last year, each armed with a scale and tape measure, to knock on 35,000 doors to weigh and measure 12,428 adults and 8,661 children and ask questions about their lifestyle and nutrition.
The year-long survey cost $10 million, including a second report due this fall that will examine Canadians’ nutritional and lifestyle behaviour, including how many calories they actually eat, which hasn’t been done in 30 years.
It plans to repeat the study periodically to keep track of the real numbers, said StatsCan analyst Michael Tjepkema.
Despite the oddity of having a surveyor actually weigh and measure them, only 11 per cent of people refused, said Larry MacNabb, the project’s manager for StatsCan.
The interviewers were given sensitivity training on how to approach it and “it wasn’t a problem at all,” he said. A larger number weren’t actually measured for various reasons, including the fact the person was too tall for the interviewer to measure. The agency didn’t want to put the interviewers at a safety risk by having them stand on something to measure their height, he said. So those people reported their own height.
In previous surveys, adults have been asked to self-report their weight and height and a significant number underestimate it, according to the study. The self-reported data underestimated the number of obese adults by 8 per cent last year.
“That’s a huge jump and it shows we can’t rely on self-reporting,” said Dr. Mark Tremblay, a kinesiologist and chair of Active Healthy Kids Canada, which promotes physical activity.
“It’s wonderful to have a new baseline from which we can monitor this is the future,” he said. “This is a landmark release in that regard and I hope it will continue.”
While the message is getting out there that obesity is a health hazard, “it’s either not being taken seriously or the environments we are exposed to are so obesity-conducive, we can’t seem to overcome it,” he said.
“If you don’t have a safe place to walk and play with your kids, the workplace is extremely sedentary and there’s a fast food restaurant or convenience store every 10 feet that’s promoting supersize bars or drinks, we’re just not able to resist the temptation even though we’re aware of it,” he said. "It’s very, very difficult.
While the numbers are bleak, Canadians are less obese and overweight than Americans who have been weighed and measured since the early 1960s. Almost 30 per cent of American adults are obese, 7 per cent more than Canadians, and the difference is largely because 9 per cent more U.S. women are fat.
Dr. Mark Tremblay, a kinesiologist and chair of Active Healthy Kids Canada, is involved in designing another two-year study that will literally measure Canadians’ skin fold fat, blood pressure, physical fitness and take blood and urine samples to measure levels of certain proteins “to find out things you couldn’t possibly know about yourself,” he said.
BMI has certain limitations because it doesn’t measure body fat distribution and muscle mass and may misclassify certain body types, the report says.
However, “it’s the best rapid measurement we’ve got and no rapid measurement is perfect,” said Jenkins.
The real problem is too little is being done to prevent obesity, he added. A news release yesterday said the federal government has pledged $300 million over five years to “encourage healthy living” and prevent obesity-related disease. Other efforts include its work to revise the Canada Food Guides and new nutritional labelling regulations.
But Jenkins said, measures like giving employers tax breaks for installing showers and bike racks are far more effective.
