When it comes to obesity, the numbers are staggering. The trends are alarming. The studies are piling up.
We need to take notice, educate ourselves and act.In June of last year, a joint study between the Public Health Agency of Canada and Canadian Institute for Health Information was released, showing the percentage of obese adult Canadians in 2009 is around one-in-four. That is not much higher than the 2005 Statistics Canada figures (23 per cent) from 2005, which state that 23 per cent of adult Canadians are obese.Think about that. Being overweight is defined as having a Body Mass Index (BMI) (the relationship between a person's body weight and their height) of greater than 25, obesity is defined as having a BMI of greater than 30.What last June's joint study also said, though, is that the costs of dealing with obesity are rising significantly. The annual direct and indirect costs associated with adult obesity in Canada were $4.65 billion in 2008 (the most recent year the figure is available), according to the study. Taking inflation into account, that cost is still a disturbing 19 per cent more than in 2000. This means the treatment of conditions such as Type 2 diabetes, hypertension, stroke, cardiovascular disease - even certain forms of cancer - are posing an increasing strain on a health-care system that struggles to control its costs. In Ontario, according to a 2009 Queen's University study, physician costs in Ontario were 14.7 per cent higher in obese men and 18.2 per cent higher in obese women than of those for their peers of normal weight. Those are the direct costs. Then there's the indirect, or productivity costs that come as a result of short and long-term disability and even death. This is serious stuff. We can't take our health for granted.Toronto Mayor Rob Ford's very public vow to lose 50 pounds by June generated a lot of coverage earlier this week. The potential for a positive impact locally from this event is there. Struggles with obesity can be very personal. Having a community leader acknowledge he needs to do something positive about his own condition is a great step to encouraging others to take some positive steps of their own. Nobody needs to be as open about this as Ford is, but the bottom line is to do something. Talk to a health care professional. Take stock of your eating habits. Consider ways to increase your physical activity. Positive change may only need to come from a few minor tweaks.