A Statistics Canada study was released Wednesday and it names Kelowna as the least obese city in Canada.
(ADAM PROSKIW / iNFOnews.ca)
May 29, 2014 - 4:26 PM
KELOWNA – Maybe it’s the weather, maybe it’s the abundance of recreational opportunities, but a report released by Statistics Canada Wednesday names Kelowna as the least obese city in the country.
Participants in the study, conducted between 2003 and 2012, were asked their height and weight and the numbers were adjusted to factor in misrepresentation and bias. Kelowna came first having only 17 per cent of residents with more than 30 per cent body fat.
The national average of obese Canadians over 18 years old is 24.8 per cent.
The report also paints the rest of the province as among the fittest in Canada as well. The top three least obese cities are all in B.C. with Vancouver only .4 per cent behind Kelowna. Only 19.6 per cent of Victoria’s population are considered obese while Atlantic provinces are the heaviest.
The city with the fattest population is Saint John, New Brunswick with 38.1 per cent.
The report isn't all good news, however. Obesity rates have increased substantially across the country over the last nine years. Since 2003 the number of obese Canadians has jumped 17.5 per cent, meaning one in four adult Canadians, approximately 6.3 million people, are currently obese. The average rate of obesity in men is 26.1 compared to only 23.4 per cent of women.
Only cities with a population of 100,000 or more were included in the study, which can be viewed in its entirety on the StatsCan website.
Image Credit: Statistics Canada
To contact the reporter for this story, email Adam Proskiw at aproskiw@infotelnews.ca or call 250-718-0428. To contact the editor, email mjones@infotelnews.ca or call 250-718-2724.
News from © iNFOnews, 2014