The Obesity Epidemic
The following is from an article in today’s Pittsburgh Post-Gazette describing the obesity epidemic in the United States and the repercussions on our current attempts at health care reform.
This article is very effective at stating the obvious: obesity is a growing problem in this country, and increasingly a problem around much of the developed world, but no one has any ideas of how to adequately address the issues. Just how bad is the problem?
The CDC estimates nearly 40 percent of American adults are considered obese based on their body mass index, a mathematical formula that considers a person’s height and weight. That extra weight frequently leads to additional health problems such as heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure and pulmonary difficulties.
A RTI study estimates $1,429 a year is added to the nation’s health care costs for each obese patient. The overall cost is about 42 percent more annually for obese people and even higher for obese patients on Medicare. Obesity adds 9.1 percent to the annual cost of health care.
The truth is, far too many parties have too much invested in keeping America unhealthy. From the food industry to the health care industry, big profits are made when we are sick. The food is cheap, but poisoned by mass-production and cheap chemicals like high fructose corn syrup, which induces leptin resistance and leads directly to overeating.
The most expensive form of health care is treatment, while the most effective and inexpensive form is prevention. If the country wants to save money here, more effort needs to be placed on education and the prevention of obesity at an early age. Unfortunately, until fresh, healthy foods are cheaper than the unhealthy crap, far too many of us are going to continue to consume the poisons. If the poisons are all you can afford, at least they fill your belly! One part of the solution is to ban high fructose corn syrup or eliminate government corn subsidies, which would make the cost of high fructose corn syrup more than that of natural sugar. Another option on the table now is to tax soft drinks.
Regardless of the methods employeed, the change will not be overnight. This sickness is now ingrained in our society. Changes will require not only government regulation, but drastic changes to our social and psychological consciousness. Perhaps that is already starting to happen.
Consumer demand led to $46 billion of global sales of organic food and drink products in 2007, with an average annual growth of $5 billion over the last decade. The European Union (EU) accounts for 54 percent of this revenue, and organic products make up 4-6 percent of food sales in some countries. The United States accounts for 43 percent of the global revenue stream, with organic now commanding 3.5 percent of total food and beverage sales, up 1 percent since 2005.
At least it is a move in the right direction. It is up to all of us to keep this momentum going, and reclaim our health from corporations seeking nothing but profit to the detriment of human welfare.
Related articles
- The decline and fall of high-fructose corn syrup. (slate.com)
- Food Companies Fight Soda Tax Proposal Despite Rising Obesity (Video) (takepart.com)
- King Corn – a belated review (bmimedical.blogspot.com)
- Healthy School Food (chefann.com)
- It’s time to declare our food source independence (timesunion.com)
- Rising Obesity Carries Hefty Price Tag (abcnews.go.com)