Aboriginal people living off-reserve are two and a half times more likely to be overweight than non-aboriginal people, according to Statistics Canada.

The 2004 study, focusing on Ontario and the western provinces, found that the main difference was due to higher obesity rates among aboriginal women aged 19 to 30. Rates for being overweight or obese among aboriginal and non-aboriginal men were statistically similar.

Off-reserve aboriginal people are more likely to suffer from health problems such as diabetes, hypertension and arthritis — all conditions that have been linked to obesity, Statistics Canada noted.

As well, differences between aboriginal and non-aboriginal people in income, education and leisure-time physical activity may play a role.

Inactivity seemed to have a greater effect on aboriginal people compared to non-aboriginal people. Among those who were inactive, 50 per cent of off-reserve aboriginal people were obese, compared with 23 per cent of non-aboriginal people.

Aboriginal women aged 19 to 30 consumed more daily calories compared with non-aboriginal women by 359 calories, the study found.

Their junk food consumption was also greater, making up more than 35 per cent of their calorie intake, compared with 24 per cent for non-aboriginal women. Aboriginal women also ate more junk food between meals, the study found.

Life expectancy lower in Inuit-inhabited areas

Meanwhile, Statistics Canada also released data from a 2001 study about life expectancy in Inuit-inhabited areas of Canada.

The study found that in the Inuvialuit region (of Northwest Territories), Nunavut, Nunatsiavut (Labrador) and Nunavik (northern Quebec), life expectancy was over 12 years less than for Canada as a whole, a gap that had widened during the previous decade.

In 1991, life expectancy in the Inuit-inhabited areas was about 68 years, compared with 78 for Canada as a whole, the study revealed. From 1991 to 2001, life expectancy in the Inuit-inhabited areas did not increase, although life expectancy rose by about two years for Canada overall.

Among the four areas, life expectancy was generally highest in the Inuvialuit region and Nunavut, followed by Nunatsiavut and Nunavik.

The study found lower levels of education and income and poorer housing conditions for the Inuit-inhabited areas compared with Canada as a whole.

"Any or all of these, in addition to lifestyle risk factors and environmental conditions, could be at least partly responsible for the lower life expectancy in those areas," the study reported.