Food Politics

I’m sure the HAES evangelists will have lots to say about this, but it’s really, really unfortunate that obesity is shorthand for all of the lifestyle diseases that are really the source of the cost. I say let’s have public health policies that support *health* and let weight take care of itself.

Don’t mistake this as support for obesity, but these numbers are a bit misleading. You can’t ignore that obesity leads to people dying earlier. Earlier deaths means, among other things, less money spent on healthcare for the elderly and a more solvent social security system.

It’s like Bastiat’s “Broken Window Fallacy.” You see the cost of medication that a person buys today due to an obesity-related disease, but you forget that this person would have otherwise needed some other type of medical care later on in life. You add the cost of the obesity-related medication, but then never subtract the amount he would have spent if he weren’t obese. This leads to numbers that seem more meaningful than they actually are.

For a more specific example, imagine a person who eats poorly, doesn’t exercise, and becomes obese. She gets diabetes and heart disease at age 30, takes medications to treat those problems, but eventually dies of a heart attack at age 43. It’s not honest to count the cost of her medications and health care while ignoring the fact that, were she to instead live a healthy life and make it to 100 years-old, she would have still needed lots of healthcare and drawn on Social Security for more than 30 years. Does the cost of one scenario outweigh the other? I’ve yet to see any research that really tries to answer this.

Every public health issue doesn’t have to become an economic issue to be relevant.

If the ‘obesity problem’ was one day solved by someone inventing some magic pill to make people eat the ‘correct’ amount, an awful lot of diet experts and gurus would be out of a job. Weightwatchers and all the other groups like it would go out of business, and all the diet bloggers would have to sit twiddling their thumbs all evening wondering what to do.

The “Obesity Epidemic” was *caused* by Big Pharma’s co-opting of government to give us really bad dietary advice. The Campaign to End Obesity is cut from the same cloth, and the solution is *not* to apply more of the cause.

The solution is to get rid of the “healthy [whole] grains,” sugar, and vegetable oils, and eat REAL FOOD that our 18th and 19th century ancestors would recognize.

Hint: If it requires a nutrition label, it is probably not REAL FOOD.

phew….I feel a bit more justified in the extra money I spent at the grocery store today to get fresh, local, organic foods….I will have to pass this article along to my husband to explain that it really is a good investment…

Doesn’t look like they calculated the costs to businesses and public sector for sick days, loss of productivity, loss of key capacity employees, mobility challenges, and (dare I risk typing this out loud?) perhaps even public relations.

Oh, and cost of fuel for airplanes, cars, and busses carrying extra weight. Cost of injured health care workers from caring for heaviers patients, cost of new equipment for hospitals, cost to funeral parlours to build larger capacity crematoriums. Etc.

The capitalistic, terrified-of-regulations society begins to look less financially wise.

@Howard, the “if it has a label” rule doesn’t always work. A very short list of things that have labels that are good for us: milk, frozen peas, tomato sauce, bread. And things that don’t: bulk candy, deli meats from a deli, donuts from a donut shop.

Even the ingredient rule doesn’t work: chocolate milk vs. granulated sugar.

This general idea is very important to grasp! But then, why is it still so rare for the food movement to understand how the farm bill contributes to cheap (pauper, not king) corn and soybeans, hfcs & transfats? “Corn is the biggest farm bill loser” and, except for the dairy crisis which is killing off our family farms, soybeans is next biggest.

[...] Food Politics This entry was posted in News and tagged Cost, Much, obesity, society, “American. Bookmark the permalink. ← Seeing My Cookbook for the First Time Who are you? In 5 objects → [...]

I think the government needs to do something and bring in some new technology and solve this obesity problem because else wasting $146.6 billion is just ridiculous.

What’s the best way to “support” the ideas and strategies that you mention?

As many of the comments reflect, few people approach these issues scientifically or read your blog in its entirety, let alone your books.

Until we do more to educate people and somehow convince them that real science does not lie (although many who interpret it DO), the majority will continue to advance their own brand of “intuition”, or worse, in the face of the facts.

Note: Cathy, you are, of course, exempt from my criticism.

[...] the original here: Food Politics » How much does obesity cost American society? This entry was posted in Food and tagged addiction, caps, food, healthier, junk, reading, [...]

Thanks Anthro

@Cathy Richards – I would disagree with every item on your list as “good for us” – with a possible exception of tomato sauce – and that’s only if there are no added sugars or fillers.

And as far as the Deli Meat – Applegate Farms deli meats are an excellent source of saturated fat and protein and part of my healthy diet. They employ humane animal welfare standards including no antibiotics and GMO grains.

@ Suzanne … do you have something against frozen peas? or milk?

Cheap pretend food cheapens life.

[...] Posted agosto 30, 2012 by Ana Maria Quispe in salud. Etiquetado:costos, obesidad. Dejar un comentario Read original post from Dr. Nestle Blog here [...]

[...] How much does obesity cost American society? <<I wish the politicians would put this in their deficit pipes and smoke it. (Food Politics) [...]

What sorts of diseases are prevented through obesity? Should we include the prevention of these diseases in the estimate of the burden of disease? For example, obesity is associated with more diabetes and heart problems, and obesity is negatively associated with malnutrition and vitamin deficiency.

@that_girl – I don’t consume milk or frozen peas. Too high in sugars. There are other foods that provide similar benefits without the sugar.

Thanks in favor of sharing such a pleasant opinion, paragraph is pleasant, thats why i have read it fully

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[...] back in 1976 was 8.7%., and today it is 34.7% . Obesity and its related diseases costs our country 190 billion dollars in healthcare and lost productivity. Yet, health clubs and diet programs grow in popularity right [...]

[...] obese, another one-third is overweight, and these rates keep on rising. America spends an estimated $190 billion annually on obesity-related illnesses. And while some of these costs are borne by the private [...]

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