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Canadian adults continue to get fatter, but they appear to be packing on the pounds at a much slower rate, according to new figures from Statistics Canada.

The Statscan report issued Monday breaks down average weight gain for Canadian adults into two-year intervals from 1996 to 2005.

During the period studied, the average self-reported weight gain peaked between 2001 and 2003, when it hit 1.1 kg for men and 1 kg for women.

However, in the latest interval ending in 2005, while waistlines continued to expand, the average amount gained was significantly lower at 0.7 kg for men and 0.6 kg for women.

“Thus, overall adults were still gaining weight, but statistically significantly less than in the earlier periods,” the report said.

Men aged 18 to 33 served as the exception, where the average weight gain for the age group actually increased in the latest interval.

In fact, gender, age, and obesity rates were significantly associated with the rate at which Canadians put on weight.

Up until the latest interval, almost half of all adults reported that they had gained weight from the previous period. However, between 2003 and 2005 the proportion of men gaining weight fell to 44 per cent.

As well, 32 per cent of men reported a loss in weight between 2003 and 2005, a significantly higher percentage than in the first two intervals, according to the report.

However, there appeared to be no significant difference for women from one interval to another.

Canadian adults with a healthy body mass index (from 18.5 to 24.9) recorded the highest rate of weight gain, on average 0.8 kg more than overweight people (BMI of 25 to 29.9), or obese adults (30 or greater), who actually self- reported a mean loss over each interval.

Similar concerns are being raised in the U.S. Monday, after a University of Rochester study suggested that abdominal obesity in children has increased significantly between 1988 and 2004. A 65 per cent increase in belly fat was reported in boys over the 16-year period, while a 70 per cent increase was reported in girls, with the largest relative increase occurring among 2- to 5-year old boys (84 per cent) and 18- to 19-year-old girls, which recorded a 126 per cent increase.

Childhood abdominal obesity is considered a better predictor of cardiovascular disease and type-2 diabetes risk than the more commonly used BMI measurements, according to the report.

Dr. Stephen Cook, lead author of the study, said that while there is no gold standard for what belly fat should be for children, the study serves as warning sign for parents to limit sedentary activities, such as TV and computer time, and to teach and model healthy eating and exercise behaviours.

“Childhood obesity is a serious and growing problem – perhaps even more than people already believe,” Dr. Cook said in his report.

But rising obesity rates are not unique to Canada, or North America for that matter, as waistlines continue expand across the globe.

Rising affluence and worsening diets are being blamed for an estimated 60 million Chinese - or equal to the population of France - becoming obese, Chinese state media reported Monday.

“An increasing number of Chinese are eating more fat and junk food but less grains and vegetables, leading to a high number of cases of high blood pressure and diabetes,” Pan Beilei, a deputy director with the government-affiliated State Food and Nutrition Consultant Committee was quoted saying by the Xinhua News Agency.

Last year 160 million Chinese had high blood pressure, up from 90 million in 1991, and 20 million had diabetes, according to the report.

With a report from the Associated Press