Australia is set to take on the title of ‘fattest nation’ according to a study released in Melbourne by the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute. The study estimated that about 4 million Australian adults or 26 % of the population were obese, with fears that it might overtake the United States for the dubious title.

"If we ran a fat Olympics we'd be gold medal winners as the fattest people on earth at the moment," Institute preventative cardiology head Professor Simon Stewart told the Age newspaper.

The report appropriately titled Australia’s Future Fat Bomb, was to be presented to a government inquiry looking into the country’s obesity problem. The results of height and weight checks carried out on 14,000 adult

Australians nationwide in 2005 showed that 70 % of men and 60 % of women in the age bracket of 45-65 and almost half the 21 million population were obese and 123,000 were at risk of early death over the next 20 years. Nicola Roxon, the Australian Health Minister on Friday said the government has promised to tackle the obesity problem as a national strategy will be implemented in the next 12 months.  

"These are obviously pretty staggering statistics to show that we are the fattest, or one of the fattest countries in the world," Roxon told reporters in Canberra. Roxon said the report was a shock for the country and showed the need for urgent preventive steps.   

Nutrition expert Rosemary Stanton said, "We've got to somehow or other get a message across. We've got to start taking this very seriously, rather than just talking about it,"  referring to "huge resistance" in the processed and fast food industries. (With inputs from Agencies, Reported by Piyush Diwan)