Impacts

Obesity increases a person’s risk of various diseases including coronary heart disease, stroke, diabetes, chronic kidney disease and cancer. Obesity during childhood and adolescence is a direct cause of physical and psychological health consequences, as well as being a strong predictor of adult obesity. Australians in the lowest socioeconomic groups experience the greatest burden of disease attributable to overweight and obesity, compared to higher socioeconomic groups. Excess weight is responsible for about 14.9% of the health gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.