Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology. Summary: New research explains how poor maternal nutrition passes health risk across generations. The new science of epigenetics explains how genes can be modified by the environment: You are what your mother did not eat during pregnancy.
A 2005 WHO study found that just over 20% of Australian adults are obese, which is expected to rise to roughly 29% in 2010 if current trends continue. In the 2005 National Health Survey, 53.6% of Australians reported being overweight (above a 25 BMI), with 18% falling into the obese category (above a 30 BMI).n 2005, a study was conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics that compared the results of a 2004-05 survey with those conducted in the preceding 15 years. The results showed an increase in the number and proportion of adults who are overweight or obese.
During the 33 years studied, rates of being obese or overweight soared 28 percent in adults and 47 percent in children. During that span, the number of overweight and obese people rose from 857 million in 1980 to 2.1 billion in 2013. That number exceeds the total world population of 1927, when it first hit 2 billion. Earth's population now tops 7 billion.