The rate of adults in Hunter New England and Central Coast who are overweight or living with obesity has fallen to 59.7 per cent, federal data shows. Login or signup to continue reading This represented a 6.
8 per cent drop in seven years, and was below the national rate of 65 per cent. Professor Clare Collins , a University of Newcastle nutrition expert, said "this is a bit of good news for the Hunter". "We can give some praise to the efforts of the PHN [primary health network], area health service, NSW Health as well," Professor Collins said.
"Let's pat ourselves on the back for living a healthier lifestyle and keep it up." Professor Collins said it was unlikely that the fall in overweight and obesity rates could be attributed to drugs being used for weight loss, such as Ozempic and Mounjaro. There had been "rapid uptake" of these drugs, but mostly in the last two years.
The weight data, released this week by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare [AIHW], was for the year 2022. "I want to be the optimist and say the worst is behind us," Professor Collins said. "They say supplies of Ozempic will be fully established for Australia by the end of the year.
" The Hunter New England and Central Coast rate of 59.7 per cent was the third best among NSW's nine primary health networks. The worst two were Western NSW (78.
9 per cent) and South Eastern NSW (71.4 per cent). The best two were Northern Sydney (46.
4 per cent) and Central and Eastern Sydney (57.6 per cent). The data al.