America’s expanding waste line is really hitting the wallet, according to researchers Ross Hammond and Ruth Levine. In their recent paper published by Dove Press, the Brookings Institution scholars calculated that obesity is now costing the country at least $215 billion a year. They came to this figure after examining four major areas affected by having millions of overweight Americans: direct medical costs, productivity costs, transportation costs and human capital costs. More than two-thirds of adults in the U.S. are considered overweight, and almost one-third are classified as obese.

 

Five diseases are most closely linked with obesity: hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, type 2 diabetes mellitus, coronary heart disease, and stroke.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

The Economic Impact of Obesity in the United States (by Ross Hammond and Ruth Levine, Diabetes, Metabolic Syndrome and Obesity: Targets and Therapy) (pdf)

Last Supper Paintings Reflect the New Obesity (by Noel Brinkerhoff and David Wallechinsky, AllGov)

Three Quarters of 17 to 24-Year-Olds Unqualified to Serve in the Military (by Noel Brinkerhoff and David Wallechinsky, AllGov)