Canada's Obesity Statistics

In the 2007 Canadian Community Health Survey, the self-reported rate of adult obesity (age 18+) was 17%.

The actual rate of obesity is likely much higher, closer to 25%.

Across Canada, self-reported rates of obesity have increased from 2003 to 2005 and again in 2007.

Obesity rates for both men and women increase with age, starting at age 20 and continuing until age 65.

After age 65, obesity rates decline.

In 2005, the measured rate of obesity for youth 12 to 17 was 9.4%, almost two times higher than the self-reported rate (4.9%).

Self-reported data from 2002/03 suggest that obesity rates are high among First Nations adults (36.0%), youth (14.0%) and children (36.2%). In 2007, the self-reported obesity rate among off-reserve Aboriginal adults was 24.8%, compared to 16.6% for non-Aboriginal adults.

Unlike other health issues such as mortality or life expectancy, for which there is a clear disadvantage for those with lower income, the relationship between income and obesity is not clear.

In 2005, obesity-related chronic conditions accounted for $4.3 billion in direct ($1.8 billion) and indirect ($2.5 billion) costs – a figure that may be an underestimation of the total costs of excess weight in Canada.

Canada is one of many developed nations experiencing a rise in obesity rates. The international standard for calculating obesity rates is the Body Mass Index (BMI), which is weight in kilograms divided by height in metres squared. A person with a BMI equal to or greater than 25 is considered overweight, while someone with a BMI equal to or greater than 30 is obese.

The proportion of overweight men and women in Canada has increased over the years. In 2000/01, in all age groups, men were much more likely than women to be overweight. The difference was especially notable in the 35-to-44 age group, where 58% of men and 37% of women were overweight. Among those aged 20 to 65, almost half (48%) were overweight, and one in three of those were obese.

In 1994/95, 34% of children aged 2 to 11 were overweight. Of these, 47% could be considered obese. By 1998/99, the proportion of overweight children had risen to 37%, of which 49% were obese.  In 1994/95, 45% of men and 47% of women said they had very good or excellent eating habits. That same year, most people reported that they were trying to eat less fat and sugar and more carbohydrates and fibre. Women were more likely than men to be changing their diets: 32% of women said they were modifying their meals, whereas only 20% of men were doing so.

* Statistics Canada 2004-08-10

Obesity - A Priority Concern

National and international medical journals and popular media tell us that obesity is a priority concern for governments, health researchers and average citizens around the world. And little wonder -- obesity, and its related health disorders and impacts, is a complex and challenging health issue with grave implications for individuals and whole populations. In Canada, a conservative estimate of the total direct cost of overweight and obesity was $1.8 billion in 1997¹. We now know that obesity leads to decreased life expectancy, poor health and limits quality of life. It also inhibits the overall dynamism of Canadian society and contributes to growing health care costs, and diminished national productivity.

Researchers are looking at both the causes of obesity and its effects on people, with a view to finding new and effective ways to prevent and treat obesity, as well as to minimize the serious health consequences of related diseases such as type 2 diabetes. No single approach or discipline will provide the "magic bullet" for a problem as complex as obesity. As a result, obesity research spans a spectrum that includes pure metabolic research (such as the discovery of the genes and pathways that control energy expenditure), investigations into the cardiovascular and metabolic consequences of increasing or decreasing body weight, and sociological investigations that look at human behaviour in response to community interventions and physical activity programming. New knowledge is needed to develop effective strategies to deal with both the biological and environmental factors driving the pandemic of obesity and its associated health problems.

Obesity - A Pandemic

The prevalence of obesity has increased at an alarming rate over the past two decades, to the extent that it is now a pandemic affecting billions globally². The Canadian experience has been no different than that of many other developed countries. Statistics Canada data demonstrate that more than half of Canadians are overweight or obese, with almost 15 per cent of the population falling in the category of "obese"³. Between 1981 and 1996, the prevalence of obesity in Canada increased from nine to 14 percent in men and from eight to 12 percent in women, while those in the categories of overweight and obesity together increased from 48 to 57 percent among men and from 30 to 35 percent among women. The same research team found similar dramatic trends for Canadian children⁴.

Classifying Obesity

Are you at a healthy body weight, overweight or obese? Internationally, the Body Mass Index (BMI) is one way that doctors and health practitioners make that determination. BMI equals your weight in kilograms divided by your height in meters squared. A BMI between 20 and 25 is considered a healthy body weight. A BMI equal or greater than 25 is considered overweight and equal or more than 30 puts you in the obese category.

Research shows that affected individuals (either overweight or obese), particularly those with high levels of abdominal fat, have an increased risk for type 2 diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. Recent analyses of population data from the United States have shown that obesity and overweight in adulthood are associated with large decreases in life expectancy with increases in early mortality similar to those seen with smoking. There is some good news. Lifestyle modification (i.e. decreases in calorie and fat intake and increased physical activity) leading to even small weight losses in body weight (as little as a five to 10 per cent ) delays or prevents the development of type 2 diabetes⁵.

Obesity - Its Many Causes

Researchers mostly agree that an imbalance between the energy (i.e. food) consumed by an individual and the energy they expend leads to either weight loss or weight gain. However, hundreds of genetic and environmental factors affect how much we eat and how active we are. The challenge today is that the majority of our population consume more energy than they burn, making obesity more and more common.

For example, research involving twins has clearly shown that there are genetic factors at play in the obesity story. Environmental, economic and social forces affect the development of obesity, especially among certain sub-groups of the population. The availability of fast-food products and changing family eating patterns, along with technological developments that decrease the need for physical activity at work and at play, are examples of how external change can affect the individual and their body weight. Researchers are only beginning to unravel the mysteries of this complex condition.

Obesity - Canada's Research Response

In Canada, a significant portion of our nation's obesity research is funded by the Institute of Nutrition, Metabolism and Diabetes (INMD), one of 13 Institutes that comprise the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). CIHR is the Government of Canada's funding agency for health research. Working with a wide range of university-based researchers, INMD has put a spotlight on obesity research in recent years.

In 2001, INMD launched a strategic initiative entitled Excellence, Innovation and Advancement in the Study of Obesity and Healthy Body Weight and set aside $3 million in research and training grants per year to fund specific research studies about obesity. Researchers across the country have benefited from these grants and have taken up the research challenge posed by obesity and its varied biological, behavioural and social determinants. Canadian researchers have a growing reputation for the excellence of their studies in the obesity field and their work is well known internationally.

The breadth of programs offered under this strategic initiative signals INMD's intent to continue to build capacity and strengthen Canadian health research in all aspects of obesity/healthy body weight. This research is expected to be in areas from across CIHR's research themes: 1) biomedical, 2) clinical, 3) health systems and services, and 4) the health of populations, including the social, cultural and environmental influences on health. Funding within the initiative is packaged so it can support the creation of multi-disciplinary teams and projects, stimulate innovation, help establish clinical trials and encourage community-based intervention research.

Through this strategic initiative, INMD hopes to challenge scientists working across a host of disciplines to help develop an understanding of the mechanisms (ranging from gene regulation to population behaviour) that will inform the activities of health professionals, policy makers and the Canadian public in the prevention and treatment of obesity and the maintenance of healthy body weight.

Already, INMD has funded projects that examine the correlation between chronic diseases and obesity, cardio-vascular complications associated with obesity, the incidence of diabetes and obesity within aboriginal communities, and the scope of health promotion programs that target healthy weights.

Canada on the Move, funded by INMD and its partners, is an initiative that involves the creation of a national research database about physical activity and pedometer use. Adult Canadians from all parts of the country are being encouraged to monitor their daily movement using pedometers and can submit their personal activity data to a web-based research platform. Authorized researchers will use the data to learn more about what motivates people to be active and if pedometers actually encourage movement.

INMD's focus on obesity has also produced a number of valued partnerships and strategic alliances with other governmental and non-governmental organizations such as the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, the Canadian Diabetes Association, the Kidney Foundation of Canada, Health Canada and many other CIHR Institutes, including the Institutes of Cancer Research, Gender and Health, Musculoskeletal Health and Arthritis, Circulatory and Respiratory Health, Aboriginal People's Health and Human Development and Child and Youth Health.

Ultimately it is INMD's goal to increase our understanding of the measures, causes, prevention, treatment and consequences of obesity and maintenance of body weight. CIHR has a knowledge transfer mandate that will ensure that research findings are shared with the public, health care practitioners and policy makers in ways that make a real difference to the lives of people dealing with the ramifications of overweight or obesity.

Health research initiative gets "Canada on the move"

VANCOUVER (January 26, 2004) - Dr. Diane Finegood, Scientific Director of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Institute of Nutrition, Metabolism, and Diabetes (INMD) with the support of the CIHR Institute of Musculoskeletal Health and Arthritis (IMHA), today launched a national health research initiative that will gather valuable information about what motivates people to get active, while encouraging Canadians to clip on pedometers and count their daily steps.

Canada on the Move is a health research project designed to get Canadians to "donate their steps" to health research. Canadians both with and without pedometers are encouraged to join this national research effort by logging onto a website to submit information about their daily total number of steps and factors that influence their level of physical activity.

"Physical activity is key to combating the obesity epidemic among Canadians. Anecdotal evidence suggests that pedometers can be very helpful for some people, but we need to know who they work for and under what conditions," says Dr. Diane Finegood. "By engaging Canadians from coast-to-coast, researchers will be able to learn about how people use pedometers and what motivates them to increase their level of physical activity."

Researchers currently know that an active person walks about 10,000 steps a day. Through the participation of individual Canadians in Canada on the Move, experts and researchers will collect and analyze important data that will add to knowledge and may help efforts to increase activity and reduce obesity.

"My colleagues and I took part in the planning behind Canada on the Move because we were drawn to the potential for valuable data supporting our research," says Ron Plotnikoff, Associate Professor at the University of Alberta. "We believe this unique initiative may have benefits to the health of Canadians by motivating positive behavioural changes through a process we could monitor and assess."

Canada on the Move has already attracted a number of private and public sector partners wanting to help Canadians commit to a more active lifestyle. Kellogg Canada, for example, recently inserted step counters in 800,000 specially-marked boxes of Special K* and Special K* Red Berries cereals and is encouraging Canadians to log onto the web site. Sun Microsystems of Canada, in partnership with Blue Spark, contributed to the development of the web site and database. The University of Alberta has also launched their own U of A on the Move initiative and provided support to researchers at the university engaged in refinement and testing of the web site content.

"These partners have been essential to getting this project off the ground on a very short timeline, but they represent the "tip of the iceberg" of groups interested in participating in this unique multi-sector initiative," says Dr. Finegood. "We are keen to develop many more partnerships that will help us bring together the necessary research expertise, financial support, and services needed to expand Canada on the Move and encourage even more Canadians to get involved. The more people participate the more we can learn."

The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) is the Government of Canada's premier agency for health research. Its objective is to excel, according to internationally accepted standards of scientific excellence, in the creation of new knowledge and its translation into improved health for Canadians, more effective health services and products and a strengthened Canadian health care system.

The Institute of Nutrition, Metabolism and Diabetes (INMD) is one of 13 institutes that comprise the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). INMD's mission is to support research to enhance health in relation to diet, digestion, excretion and metabolism. Researchers in Canada receive funding through INMD to pursue a wide spectrum of research associated with obesity, its causes and treatments.

In 2001, CIHR and INMD announced a major strategic initiative entitled Excellence, Innovation and Advancement in the Study of Obesity and Healthy Body Weight that provides funds for research ranging from basic science to studies about the social impacts of obesity.

Endnotes:

1) CL Birmingham, JL Muller, A Palepu, JJ Spinelli, and AH Anis. "The cost of obesity in Canada". Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ),160 (1999): 483-8.
2) International Association for the Study of Obesity (IASO) Press Release, (March 17, 2003).
3) MS Tremblay, PT Katzmarzyk and JD Willms. "Temporal trends in overweight and obesity in Canada, 1981-1996". International Journal of Obesity (IJO), 26 (2002):538-43.
4) JD Willms, MS Tremblay and PT Katzmarzyk. "Geographic and demographic variation in the prevalence of overweight Canadian children". Obesity Research. 11 (2003):668-73.
5) WC Knowler et al. "Reduction in the incidence of type 2 diabetes with lifestyle intervention or metformin". The New England Journal of Medicine, 346 (6) (2002):393-403.