CTV.ca News Staff
Smoking has reached its lowest rate among Canadians since federal data has been kept, according to a new survey. But obesity -- a health threat some experts have warned is the new tobacco -- continues to climb.
According to the 2003 Canadian Community Health Survey, which was released Tuesday by Statistics Canada, 14.9 per cent of adult Canadians are obese and another 33.3 per cent are considered to be overweight.
The heaviest Canadians are aged 45 to 64, with 37.9 per cent of the population reported to be overweight and 18.5 per cent reported to be obese.
The survey used Body Mass Index (BMI), a proportion of weight to height as its criteria. People with a BMI between 25 and 30 are considered overweight; a BMI of 30 or above is considered obese.
While the survey did not include figures for children, 13.6 per cent of 18 and 19 year olds were overweight and 5.5 per cent were obese, while 21.8 per cent of 20 to 24 year olds were overweight and 8.6 per cent were obese.
And because the numbers are self-reported, analysts at StatsCan warn the percentage of obese and overweight Canadians could be even higher.
An excess of weight is believed to raise a person's risk of heart disease or stroke by as much as 50 per cent, and puts a $2 billion strain on the health care system every year, according to figures from the Heart and Stroke Foundation.
In Canada the number of deaths attributable to overweight and obesity has almost doubled over the past 15 years, increasing from 2,514 in 1985 to 4,321 in 2000, according to research from Heart and Stroke.
But the news from the Statistics Canada survey wasn't all bad. The number of Canadians who light up every day declined from 24.3 per cent in 1994 to 17.8 per cent, with the biggest drop seen in what used to be considered the most worrisome group -- teenage girls. In 2003, 13.6 per cent of teen girls said they smoked every day, compared to 18.9 per cent in 2000-1 and 20.9 per cent in 1994.
The highest rate of smoking was among Canadians aged 20 to 24, with one third reporting they light up on a daily basis.
The survey, which was based on information from 135,000 people across the country, also found residents of the Northwest Territories to be the heaviest drinkers, with nearly 40 per cent reporting that they consume five or more drinks at one time at least once a month. They were followed by residents of Newfoundland and Labrador (32.2 per cent) and Nunavut (31 per cent).
A total of 20.7 per cent of all Canadians reported drinking five or more alcoholic beverages in one sitting per month.
The survey was also the first to try to measure the number of homosexual and bisexual Canadians and looked at issues such as stress levels and access to primary health care.