Report reveals risky drinking rates
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A new health report shows too many people in the Hunter-New England area are drinking excessively, are overweight and at high risk of suicide.
The chief health officer's 2008 report is a 10-year snapshot of health across New South Wales.
It shows 44 per cent of Hunter men and 29 per cent of women engage in risky alcohol drinking.
Sixty-six per cent of men are overweight or obese, with 53 per cent of women falling in to the same category.
More than half of the region's women are eating enough fruit, but both sexes are failing miserably when it comes to eating the recommended amount of vegetables.
Vaccination rates are among the best in the state, but the region has an abnormally high rate of diabetes and the state's highest suicide rate for males.
Smoking rates in women are also the highest in the state.
Newcastle University dietitian Claire Collins says she is disturbed by the high level of obesity in the region.
"One of the important things these results show is that we have to fight the obesity epidemic at the supermarket, so what you put in your trolley absolutely makes a difference to your health and how well you feel," she said.
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