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.
Globally, there are 1.5 billion adults who are either overweight or obese, a number expected to increase to 3 billion by 2030. The epidemic is reaching catastrophic proportions, and one of the key-if small- steps to bringing it under control is to have a common language to describe the problem.