RESEARCH PROPOSAL QUESTION : How do Australian adults perceive the need to do Physical activity to reduce the rate of obesity? AIMS OF THE RESEARCH : 1. To assess the prevalence of obesity in...

Running head: LITERATURE REVIEW         1
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LITERATURE REVIEW
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Literature Review
Table of Contents
Introduction:    2
Background:    3
Search Strategy:    7
Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria:    8
PRISMA    10
Findings:    11
Theme 1: Obesity correlates with a large number of diseases    11
Theme 2: Changing trend in lifestyle and eating habits can improve physical health and eliminate risk of obesity    12
Theme 3: Several factors other than lifestyle disorders also contribute significantly to obesity    13
Discussion:    15
Gap in literature:    17
Research Question:    17
Conclusion:    18
Introduction
Worldwide 39% adult is obese and 23% of them are not sufficient active. In high-income countries, overweight and insufficient active adults are 58% and 33% respectively. As per World Cancer Research Fund, 14 types of cancer are associated with obesity. In addition, 2-3% of physical inactivity related cancer can be prevented in men and 1-2% in women (colon, breast and endometrial) (Wilson et al., 2019). However, eating disorders and obesity are different but these are inter-related and from year 1995 to 2015 prevalence of obesity related to eating habits increase significantly (Da Luz et al., 2017). Appropriate interventions like health education and behaviour modification strategies to promote physical activity and healthy eating is useful for the treatment of obesity in adults (Miller & Dunstan, 2004). The statistical numbers indicate a worrying scenario about the mental wellness of the young Australians. It has further been reported by researchers that the recent years have witnessed a rise in the prevalence rate of suicides among the young Australians (Coles et al., 2016; Alfonsson et al., 2016). The available evidence indicates a serious concern, which requires immediate intervention for promoting improved mental health of the young Australian adults. Among all the English speaking native countries, the World Health Organization (WHO), the governing body that monitors and regulates any issue relating to human health and diseases has labelled Australia as the country with the third highest prevalence of overweight adults in the world since the reports published in 2007. This has been classified as the major cause of concern among the Australians as the increase in obesity is leading to a “global epidemic” with increasing frequency (Healy, 2008). According to the experts in the field, this health crisis has led to a unprecedented problem in the Australian nation contributing hugely to the increase in obesity related metabolic disorders in the adults (Jacobs, 2019).
Background
The Medical Journal of Australia stated that the incidence of obesity among the Australian citizens has almost doubled in the past twenty years. The major reasons could be that the people tend to follow more casual life style, gorging on food that are high in carbohydrates or fat or unhealthy life style with very little or no regular exercise (Stubbs & Lee, 2014). In the following chapters we shall see the causes that lead to such increased incidences of obesity among the Australians, but first we shall analyse the statistics and comment whether obesity is a problem among the Australians or not.
The Australian Department of Health publishes reports that highlight the major health related issues among the people every year. Over the last ten years, obesity has topped the charts. 60% of all men population and 66% of the women population in the year 2018–19 has had an average waist circumference, which indicates that the people suffer from high risk of metabolic diseases or complications. Every 2 out 3 adults constituting to almost 67% of total Australian population are overweight or obese in the year 2018–19 and as many as many as 36% were overweight in the same year but not to be classified obese although the index showed that 31% were obese in 2018-2019 (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2019). The data also reveals that 38% of all adults that survived from the lowest socioeconomic areas were found to be obese, as compared to the 24% that were found in the higher income areas.
Our research revealed that one in every four children, which means about 25% of all children and adolescents aged between 2 to 17 years were, classifies as overweight or obese. This means that among 1.2 million children and adolescents found in Australia alone are suffering from obesity and overweight. Although every 1 out of 6 of children and adolescents, which is about 17% of the total population, were found to be overweight but not obese and about 1 in every 12 were obese which makes about 12.5% individuals in Australia. The results were similar for boys and girls across all the age groups.
In the year, 2018–19, every 2 out of 3 of Australians that makes up about 67% of the total population aged above 18 years and over was classified to be overweight or obese. Putting it in another way, 12.5 million adults approximately were said to be overweight or obese by the WHO in 2018. These facts are astounding because when the incidence is raised from 30% to almost 67% of the total population that is affected it creates a major cause of concern among the people. Out of every 1 in 3 individual adults were although not obese but overweight making it about 37% of the total population and every 1 in 3 were obese which approximately 31% is. About 1 in 10 (11%) adults were severely obese, which is defined as having a BMI of 35 or more (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2019).
Across the varied age groups, the percentages of men that were overweight but not classified as obese was also similar. Again, the figures revealed that men tend to be more overweight than women are but does not cross the margin of obesity, but this has increased to 42% compared with 30% in the last 5 years. The distribution of BMI Also varies between men and women, and reports show that overweight and obesity is in their own way distributed among women and men. The women were said to be more likely to be overweight but not obese when they grew old especially in the region of age 65 to 74 years, but when compared to younger women in the younger age group of 18 to 24 and 25 to 34, they were less likely to be obese. Obesity was also found to be more common in the older age groups. Every 1 out of 6 men that make up almost 18% and 1 out of 7 women that make up almost 14% were aged between the age group of 18 to 24 year. They have been classifies as obese when compared to every 2 out of 5 men that makes up almost 42% and women with 39% aged between the years 65 to 74 (Australian Burden of Disease Studies, 2019).
Statistics are different for the Australian citizens and the Aboriginal people when data is compared for the incidence of the aboriginal people. Aboriginal people show a more likely tendency to suffer from obesity related diseases such as depression and anxiety than the Australian citizens that live in the metropolitan cities and towns (Li, Campbell & Mcdermott, 2009). The numbers are not at all, what is expected among the common people. About 30% Indigenous and aboriginal people suffer from obesity related diseases as compared to the 20% of the general Australian Population. There is about 12.5% Indigenous and aboriginal people over 45 that suffer from obesity as compared to the 2.3% of the general Australian Population. The people living in rural and remote places of Australia are 10 times more likely to suffer from obesity than the people living in rural parts of India, Africa and Indonesia or even Vietnam and China. In the year 2019-2020, there has been 25% of Indigenous and aboriginal people that reportedly has a health disorder or disease that directly relates to being overweight, while 17% Torres Strait Islander people were reported to have similar issues in the same year (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2019).
This is usual for that particular year. When we go back a few more years and compare the statistics of the last 10 years, we have seen that these Indigenous and aboriginal people suffer from obesity related diseases issues more than the common population. A further astounding fact is that many of them tend to report a dramatic decline in the obesity related diseases that worsens drastically in these areas and among these people. Most of the reports show that people suffer from anxiety, which has a prevalence rate of more than 19% with depression following up close behind the gap at about 13% due to the increase in hospitalizations and discrimination that is faced by the obese people.
However in the year 2019, it was reported that more than one half of the aboriginal people and about one fifth of the Torres Strait Islander population reported to have some sort of mental distress stressor such as suicidal tendencies, anxiety and even mental and cognitive retardation suffering from overweight and obesity. In that same year, a survey was conducted that revealed stunning data that over 35% of the Indigenous and aboriginal people of Australia reported to have a severe health related issues in the last ten years, comprising of 21% from the aboriginal people and 18% from the Torres Strait Islander population (Korff, 2020). What was more alarming data was then 68% of all the Indigenous and aboriginal people reported that they has face at least one stressful episode in the past year alone (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2019).
Search Strategy
Preliminary literature search was prepared using established databases (PubMed, Nature’s database, Science Direct, Google Scholar, EMBASE, MEDLINE) to form an unstructured literature review database mainly excluding out papers published before 1990. Data that met criteria searches was collected and extracted. Sites searches were conducted until complete saturation occurred. Official websites of environmental organizations that work in this topic were explored including Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australian Health Surveys and Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Results were organized and made into an overview recounting the status of the science....