The latest official health survey has exposed Australia as a nation of fatties who do not eat enough fruit and vegetables and mostly fail to do adequate exercise.
National Health Survey data, released today, said more than 60 percent of Australians were overweight or obese when the survey was conducted in 2022.
More than 93 percent of people did not eat the recommended daily intake of vegetables and 56 percent were undereating fruit.
Almost one in three adults were drinking more than the recommended Australian alcohol limit.
In Queensland, only 23.6 percent of the adult population met the recommended physical activity levels. This was still a vast improvement on the 14.8 percent recorded in 2017-18.
While there was little difference between male and female physical activity participation, significant gaps were recorded between age groups.
A mere 12.6 percent of 15 to 17-year-olds did enough exercise but 31.8 percent of over 65s in the state were exercising enough.
More than one in four Australians had some sort of mental or behavioural disorder and this figure was more than 30 percent for Queenslanders.
Mental health conditions were the most prevalent ailment for Queenslander followed by hay fever and allergies (18 percent), back problems (17 percent) and arthritis (13.6 percent).
Queensland had the worst consumption levels for vegetables, with only 5.1 percent of the adult population meeting the required quota.
The state had the second highest proportion of overweight people at 68.8 percent, just behind Tasmania at 70.5 percent.
One in 50 people in Queensland had cancer. Prevalence of cancer had remained steady over the past 20 years, from 1.6 percent in 2001 to 1.9 percent in 2022. Men and women had similar cancer rates (1.9% and 1.7%).
The full report is on the ABS website.
