Posted on 06/11/2006 3:51:50 PM PDT by qam1
GENERATION Xs are at risk of dying before their parents with a new Australian study showing they are becoming obese faster than any other age group.
The Sydney University study found adults born between 1966 and 1970 were putting on weight more rapidly than baby boomers and adults of the pre-war generations.
Diet and lack of physical activity have been blamed for the Generation Xs being more prone to plumpness, having grown up with television, computer games, fast food restaurants and larger meal sizes.
The findings have sparked calls for health campaigns which specifically target Generation Xs and their children, who are also believed to be at risk.
Commissioned by New South Wales Health, the Weight of Time study analysed data from three national health surveys to determine the effect ageing and generation had on weight gain. The three groups studied were born from 1966 to 1970, 1951 to 1955 and 1936 to 1940.
The study found the Body Mass Index (BMI), a measure incorporating weight and height, rose in adults of all generations over a 10-year period.
But the largest increases occurred in adults born between 1966 and 1970.
The study predicted 88per cent of men and 61 per cent of women born during this time would be overweight by 2010.
Australians born during WWI, WWII and during the Great Depression were found to have the lowest BMI growth.
Unlike Generation Xs, baby boomers and pre-war babies grew up in an environment when food was more scarce and higher levels of activity were required.
Author Dr Adrian Bauman, a public health professor from Sydney University and director of the Centre for Physical Activity and Health, said the results of the study were of great concern.
"We found the rate of weight gain among young adults is accelerating faster than in other generations," he said.
"At the rate at which some young adults are putting on weight, we could hypothetically see them dying before their parents."
Dr Bauman said the children of Generation Xs were also at risk as they had grown up with similarly sedentary lifestyles.
NSW Health Minister John Hatzistergos said young adults who failed to change their lifestyle habits risked acquiring illnesses such as diabetes and heart disease.
Sarah-Jane Bedingfield, 37, was born in the Generation X-era, but her lifestyle is far from sedentary.
The Manly mother-of-two credits her parents for ensuring that she had an active and healthy childhood, values she hopes to pass on to her sons - Thomas, four, and Harrison, one.
"I grew up with ballet and still play tennis and go to the gym," she said. "I think the happiest children are the ones who are active andhealthy."
Lisa Porter, a 32-year-old production TV co-ordinator from Drummoyne, also defies the Generation X trend.
"I cycle to work and I don't spend much time in front of the TV," she said. "Also, my mother has never given us processed food and I only have junk food if I have a hangover."
Please add me...
What the article does not mention is that the definitions of obesity were recently redefined. If you're not rail-thin, you're considered obese.
I hit my ideal weight in the 6th grade (going by the current scale). Muscle, body structure, etc....don't count. I have a friend that is 200-ish pounds, and not an ounce of fat on him. He bikes hundreds of miles a week and is in top shape. His doc tried to put him on a diet because he was 'obese'. My friend fired the guy, and found a new doc.
"The Manly mother-of-two credits her....."
Sounds like the reporter is trying to tell us something or he needs to rephrase this.
You missed the point.
The article proclaims Gen Xers will die before their parents. That's BS. I'm not arguing that obesity is good or that people need not take health issues seriously.
You, yourself, retort that new medications will extend lives. So doesn't that negate the very premise of the article? It didn't say "Gen Xers will live worse than their parents". It says "Gen Xers will DIE before their parents". Big difference.
Not me! 6'1" and 180lbs, age 33 (as of today) and working on shedding 5 more pounds!
Ahh! But, Gen X has always been given this kind of treatment. We're lazy. We stupid. I remember just entering high school and hearing how we were now counting on the next generation to help the world. The next generation being the kids in kindergarten at the time. They already had given up on Generation X and were focusing on the next bunch before we even had a real chance to get out there.
Oh my gosh, I nearly hurled! Where is the barf alert?
That makes sense. Boomerz wore me out..
PS
By the way don't count me among those who blame it all on fast food.
Out Southern forebearers ate greasey, calorie ladden food in large amounts. The difference between them and us is they worked from sun up to sun down, did't have central heating and air conditioning and if they wanted "fast food" they had to catch it or shoot themselves and then cook it.
We seem to be talking past each other. I'm not defending what you're attacking and I'm not attacking what you are defending.
Of course obesity exists and of course it's an unhealthy condition. I have seen a lot of extra-large people where I work that concern me how they'll be as they get older.
One of my co-workers died last year at this time of a heart attack. He was 39 years old and about 35 pounds overweight. I know what's at stake.
I simply disagree with the contention that Generation X is going to die before their parents will. That's just alarmism, the same sort as we've seen with overpopulation scares (the 1970s) global warming (the 1990s-present), SARS (2005) and the bird flu (2006).
If people aren't smart enough to change their dietary and exercise habits on their own, with all the evidence available, why should the government force them to change? Why should we empower the government to do that?
This is the point of almost all scare stories - to soften the people up for government intrusion. There's another story on FR today where some British doctors are calling for "fat" taxes on soft drinks. THAT'S what you are buying into if you accept blindly the alarmism coming from these types of studies.
BMI is a load of crap and is a flawed method for measuring obesity.
No doubt. They are putting pressure on burger restaurants to serve "smaller portions." Funny, it seems to me the portions have generally stayed the same for years. A Big Mac is the same old Big Mac that's been around for 30 plus years.
That is completely disgusting .... and very, very funny as well!
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