Susceptibility of Australian Aborigines (sic) to obesity and diabetes

Prehistorians believe that Aborigines came to Australia from South-East Asia at least 40-50 000 years ago. Until European colonization of Australia just over 200 years ago, Aborigines lived as hunter-gatherers all over the continent under widely varying geographical and climatic conditions, ranging from the tropical coastal regions of the north (latitude 1l0-2Oo S), through the vast arid regions of the centre (latitude 20"-30" S), to the cool-temperature regions of the south (latitude 30O-43" S). The ' more fertile coastal areas, both north and south, could sustain larger populations than the arid inland or desert areas. Each tribal group hunted and gathered food in a defined territory, which could be as extensive as 100 000 km2 in the desert regions, or as small as 500 km2 in fertile coastal country.