Canadian adults, both men and women, are the most obese in a survey of 63 nations that raises new health warnings for our country.
A whopping 36 per cent of Canadian men and women seen in family doctors' offices are obese, compared with just seven per cent in eastern Asia, the study says. And a further 40 per cent of the Canadian men who saw their doctor, and about 30 per cent of the women, were overweight, though not obese.
As well, Canadian men in the survey had the largest waistlines in the 63 nations, a major indicator of health problems to come. Canadian women were above average, but not the biggest.
*However, it's not a global survey as a few countries with known weight problems, in particular the United States, were not included.
The U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention list an obesity rate of 32.9 per cent of American adults in 2003-04.
At least Canada doesn't score worst in the crucial category of heart disease. That distinction belongs to a group of eastern European countries, including Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Poland and Slovakia, possibly related to high rates of smoking in eastern Europe.
In those countries, an average of 27 per cent of men and 24 per cent of women were found to have cardiovascular disease. In Canada, 16 per cent of men in the survey, and eight per cent of women, had cardiovascular disease.
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