The rising toll of rising obesity and diabetes in Australia is threatening to overwhelm the country’s health economy, experts have warned.

Presenting yet to be published research at the ADS/ADEA conference here in Perth Dr Crystal Lee from the University of Sydney’s Boden Institute of Obesity, Nutrition, Exercise & Eating Disorders said people living with both conditions cost the government nearly double the amount of money to care for compared to people with a healthy weight and no diabetes.

The research reveals that obese people with diabetes each cost the country $3131 in health care and $8067 in subsidies such as mobility and sickness allowances, on average each year.

That compares with just $1998 in health-care costs and $5681 in subsidies for people of normal weight and no diabetes, the analysis of data from a follow up of the original cohort of the Australian Diabetes, Obesity and Lifestyle study revealed.

Speaking to the limbic, Dr Lee said the latest Australian health survey suggests that some 32% of Australians aged 35 or above have obesity and tackling the disease will require a different approach if we hope to reign in the direct and indirect costs associated with it.

“We have always said that people who have obesity and diabetes cost more and now we’ve shown that the cost magnifies when you have both conditions together.

People are already being educated as part of the diabetes programs to lose or maintain weight to prevent diabetes but it’s clear that this is not working.”

“Greater effort is going to be required to prevent people from developing diabetes and obesity because the cost of these two conditions combined are much higher than having either one of them alone,” she said.