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Experts say obesity will overtake smoking as the biggest health problem of the decade. They are predicting a quarter of the population will be suffering from weight related diabetes by 2013.

Doctors have coined the phrase 'diabesity' to describe the condition, which is affecting a rising number of chronically overweight adults and children.

In Australia researchers say 4 out of 10 children will be overweight within ten years. They said the proportion of children who are overweight is growing by at least one per cent a year.The average weight of Australian adults has increased five per cent in the past decade to 74.3kg according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics report. More than half (58%) of all men and 42% of women are overweight.

It would seem that many adults underestimate the severity of their own weight problems. 'They don't recognize they're in the obese level, so of course they don't recognize they're child is overweight', one researcher said. 'It's very hard to educate people who maybe don't see it or don't want to change.'

Children as young as six are being treated for mature-onset diabetes, a condition once confined to overweight adults in their 40's.

Fatty diets and lack of exercise have also seen 10 year olds treated with cardio-vascular disease.

These children could have complications such as eye, kidney, circulation and heart problems by the time they're 20. The message needs to be put across to parents to encourage more physical activity and not let their kids sit in front of the computer or TV.

FAT FACTS

• Obesity costs countries billions of dollars a year.

• Obese people lose, on average, six or seven years of life.

• A cup of whole milk contains 8g of fat. Skim milk has 0.5grams.

• Obesity makes children so unhealthy and miserable that their quality of life is worse than children having chemotherapy to treat cancer.

• A meat pie contains the equivalent of 6 teaspoons of fat.

• A Big Mac gives you just under 25% of your daily intake of kilojoules in one snack.

• A can of soft drink contains 9-10 teaspoons of sugar.

• Obese children are 27 times more likely to get diabetes and their chances of heart disease are doubled.

Check you BMI (Body Mass Index) today to see what category you fall into at: http://slim-n-trim.org/?refid=artcit-30495

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