Obesity In Australia Essay

Obesity is defined as excessive body adiposity that is fat, to the extent to which it impacts on one’s wellbeing. Australia is one of the most overweight developed nations, with other 60 % of adults and one in four children overweight. This part of the paper highlights the ideas of privilege and disadvantage can affect obesity rates within a society.

Economic growth, while acknowledged to contribute to the alleviation of malnutrition, also results in diets that are composed of a greater proportion of fats, rather than proteins or carbohydrates, worsening rates of obesity and obesity-related diseases. Rising income levels have led to an increase in expenditure on food, although smaller proportionally than the income increase. In developing

The key driver behind obesity is poor nutrition. This is influenced by a range of socio economic and cultural factors. It includes a lack of access to fresh and healthy food as well as a lack of nutrition education among people living in rural areas. In rural areas, local businesses do not sell quality fruits and vegetables, because it is too expensive. According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare the supply of healthy food to remote and rural areas is periodic and there is a limited choice. The cost of fresh and nutritious food is usually more expensive in rural areas compared to the

Diet quality is very much a function of socioeconomic status. People who are older, wealthier, and better educated are both thinner and have better diets than do the poor. The impact of socioeconomic status variables on diet quality has normally been ascribed to a higher educational level or a greater awareness of health issues among higher-income groups. One less-explored hypothesis is that food choices are driven by the relative differences in cost between high-quality and low-quality foods.

It is recognised that nutrition and diet-related chronic diseases such as obesity follow a socio-economic gradient; the poor and poorly educated have worse diets and a greater prevalence of obesity. In general, individuals on low incomes are less likely to consume wholemeal bread and vegetables, but more likely to consume fat spreads and oils, non-diet soft drinks, pizza, processed meats and table sugar. Within the low income group, older children appear to have worse diets than younger children or adults as they consume less fruit and more energy dense