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Obesity and global warming: are they similar “canaries” in the same “mineshaft”?

Garry J Egger and John B Dixon
Med J Aust 2010; 193 (11): . || doi: 10.5694/j.1326-5377.2010.tb04089.x
Published online: 6 December 2010

Obesity, linked to chronic disease, and global warming, linked to climate change, may be indicators of serious problems with our consumption-based economic system

About 15% of the world’s population are now overweight or obese, and this is considered to be a factor in the rising incidence of chronic diseases.1 Excessive carbon concentrations now also exist in the atmosphere (50% higher now than 50 years ago), with implications for the environment and climate disruption.2


  • 1 School of Health and Human Sciences, Southern Cross University, Lismore, NSW.
  • 2 Centre for Health Promotion Research, Sydney, NSW.
  • 3 Vascular and Hypertension Unit — Obesity Research, Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute, Melbourne, VIC.
  • 4 Department of General Practice, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC.


Correspondence: garry.egger@scu.edu.au

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