Obesity in Canada

A recent article about obesity in the United States was, while hardly surprising, interesting as I hadn't seen any relevant data or news stories about obesity in Canada recently.

Googling the phrase 'Obesity in Canada' revealed an interesting Parliamentary report that was published in July of 2005.

The raw data of the report is nearly five years old; however, is there any evidence to suggest that we are in any different a position than we were in 2005? Statistics Canada reports that, "In 2008, 17.2% of Canadians aged 18 or older, roughly 4.2 million adults, reported height and weight that classified them as obese."

According to these figures, nearly one in five Canadians fits the definition of obesity. While that is certainly much less than the 62.2 per cent of Americans that are reported to be overweight or obese that was reported in the first article, it is a concerning trend that obesity is rising in both countries.