| Obesity costs us 75b yearly { January 22 2004 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active) http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/StoryFT/FullStory&c=StoryFT&cid=1073281223122http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/StoryFT/FullStory&c=StoryFT&cid=1073281223122
Cost of obesity in the US put at $75bn a year By Fiona Symon Published: January 22 2004 9:45 | Last Updated: January 22 2004 9:45 The US spent $75bn on obesity-related illnesses last year and half of that amount was financed by taxpayers through Medicare and Medicaid, according to a US study to be published on Friday.
Total state-level expenditure estimates in 2003 ranged from $87m in Wyoming to $7.7bn in California, according to the study, conducted by RTI International, an independent research organisation, and the Centers for Disease Control, an agency of the US Department of Health and Human Services.
A third of US adults are obese, the highest rate in the world, and obesity rates among American children have risen by 50 per cent in the past decade.
The study found that the percentage of annual medical expenditures in each state attributable to obesity ranged from 4 per cent in Arizona to 6.7 per cent in Alaska last year.
"Obesity has become a crucial health problem for our nation, and these findings show that the medical costs alone reflect the significance of the challenge," said Tommy Thompson, secretary for the Department of Health and Human Services.
"Of course, the ultimate cost to Americans is measured in chronic disease and early death."
Obesity has been shown to promote many chronic diseases, including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, several types of cancer and gallbladder disease.
The study will provide welcome ammunition for health campaigners, who have accused the US of trying to sabotage recent World Health Organisation efforts to combat obesity under the influence of the food industry, especially the powerful sugar lobby.
The WHO strategy recommends lower intakes of sugar, salt and saturated fats, curbs on marketing of food to children and the use of tax and pricing policies to influence food consumption decisions.
It aims to guide member states in drawing up national plans to curb an explosion of diseases such as heart disease, diabetes and cancer, which now account for about 60 per cent of deaths worldwide - a figure that is expected to rise to 73 per cent by 2020.
The WHO earlier this week agreed to allow revision of its plans after William Steiger, special assistant for international affairs to the US health secretary, told a meeting of the WHO's executive board the strategy was not sufficiently "evidence-based" and put too little emphasis on personal responsibility for health.
http://www.cdc.gov
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