IS YOUR SUBURB FAB FLAB OR
GOLD Coasters living in the city’s beachside suburbs are among the nation’s healthiest – but locals in some other parts of the city are losing the battle of the bulge. Find out how your suburb rates.
STATISTICS have proven what most of us have long known – the Gold Coast’s beach-loving lifestyle is good for your health.
Surfers Paradise, Main Beach and Broadbeach were among the city’s best performing suburbs in recently released Health Tracker data.
Between 55 and 57 per cent of the adult population are thought to be obese or overweight in these areas, compared to 63.4 per cent nationally and a Gold Coast average of 60.5 per cent
Northern and hinterland suburbs located far from the shoreline fared less well, with the average proportion of adults obese or overweight sitting at between 66.7 and 66.9 per cent in Guanaba, Springbrook, Upper Coomera and Willowvale.
Gold Coasters have also failed to kick their nicotine habit, with 17.9 per cent of adults here identified as smokers compared to 12.8 per cent nationally.
University of Queensland obesity and data analysis ex- pert Associate Professor Zhiqiang Wang said lifestyle and economic factors were major contributors to physical health.
“Where we have the facilities around ... it always improves the weight management,” he said.
“(But) there are many other factors like socio-economic factors.
“In the Woodridge, Logan areas, the prevalence for obesity is quite high.”
Professor Wang said the results were a timely reminder to Gold Coasters of the importance of avoiding obesity and watching their weight.
“(Obese people) will have higher prevalence of diabetes and cardiovascular disease,” he said.
(OBESE PEOPLE) WILL HAVE HIGHER PREVALENCE OF DIABETES AND CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE. THE RESULT IS AN EARLY DEATH. ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR ZHIQIANG WANG
“The result is an early death.”
Gold Coast Health Director of Gastroenterology Dr Russell Canavan said obese and overweight patients put the health system under strain.
“Almost every clinic will be suffering from the consequences of lifestyle whether it’s the diabetes clinic, whether it’s the anaesthetists trying to get people through operations, whether it is cardiologists or my area, cancers, they’re all higher in people who have poor lifestyle,” he said.
“When you’re talking about pure weight, which is not quite the same as obesity, we know everything from deprivation, town planning through to healthy starts, breastfeeding, schools – all of those things are important in understanding the determinant of weight in any given population.”
Dr Canavan warned data like that used in the Health Tracker system that relies on people to report their own weight is often inaccurate.
“If you take very fit people they often come up as obese as well… muscle is very heavy,” he said.