- Canada might be a much fatter and fib-prone nation than
anyone ever realized.
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- New research suggests that more than two-thirds of Canadians
are overweight, not less than half, as commonly reported.
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- The huge discrepancy is due to the fact that virtually
all statistics collected on the height and weight of Canadians are based
on self-reported data. It was assumed that, for the most part, people revealed
their true vital statistics.
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- But researchers who set out recently to actually weigh
and measure Canadians found the scales were being tipped a lot more than
they anticipated. In virtually every age group, of men as well as women,
actual calculations of overweight and obesity were 10 to 20 points higher
than in the self-reported data. Which leads to one obvious scientific conclusion:
Liar, liar, your fat pants are on fire.
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- Canadian health researchers and policy-makers have become
increasingly alarmed at the growing number of overweight Canadians. The
only saving grace in the statistics has been that Canadians were faring
far better than Americans.
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- But the reality is that Canadians are neck-and-neck --
or perhaps, double-chin-and-double-chin -- with the United States as one
of the fattest nations on Earth.
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- Last week, Statistics Canada released the results of
the latest Canadian Community Health Survey. It showed that 48.2 per cent
of adults have a body mass index -- an approximation of body fat -- of
more than 25. As such, they were categorized as overweight. Among those
surveyed, 14.9 per cent had a BMI of 30 or more, and qualified as obese.
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- Contrast these findings with the results of a study published
in this month's edition of the Canadian Journal of Public Health.
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- Researchers in Prince Edward Island went out and weighed
and measured almost 2,000 adult residents. They found that almost 70 per
cent had a BMI over 25 and almost 33 per cent had a BMI over 30.
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- "Our analysis suggests that self-reported weight
and height data result in significant underestimation of the problem of
obesity," said Debbie MacLellan, a professor of family and nutritional
sciences at the University of PEI.
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- BMI is calculated by dividing weight in kilograms by
height in metres squared. For example, a 37-year-old man who was 1.8 metres
tall and who weighed 98 kilograms would have a BMI of 30.3, and would be
considered obese.
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- But if that same man fudged a bit on the questionnaire
and said he was 1.9 metres tall and 90 kilograms, he would have a BMI of
24.9 and be considered a healthy weight.
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- The good news -- at least from a scientific perspective
-- is that Statistics Canada researchers are now out in the field with
scales and measuring tapes. When their annual report is released next year,
it should reflect real measures of height and weight.
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- Besides giving insight into how high the real overweight
and obesity numbers could be, the PEI researchers collected data on waist
size. (And Statistics Canada is doing the same.)
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- Increasingly, scientists are recognizing that fat concentrated
around the belly is the most damaging to the health. It is possible --
though not likely -- to have a high BMI and be in very good health; such
is the case with very muscular athletes.
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- Waist circumference measurements, however, leave no doubt.
People are deemed to be carrying excess abdominal fat if they have a girth
of more than 100 centimetres (40 inches) for men and 90 centimetres (36
inches) for women.
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- The PEI study shows those measures are dangerously close
to being average.
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- Prof. MacLellan and her research team took the obesity
and waist-circumference data and calculated the health risk to the population.
Again, their data were alarming: Almost 75 per cent of people were at increased
risk of health problems.
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- Yet, according to the same Statistics Canada survey,
the vast majority of Canadians consider themselves in good shape: Fifty-eight
per cent describe their health as excellent or very good, and another 30
per cent say it is good. Only 11 per cent said fair or poor.
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- Again, these are self-reported data. Which shows self-delusion
may be as big a health problem in Canada as obesity.
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