34% of American adults are obese

[Guest guest]

That was the astounding figure on tonight's national news along with the

increased costs of being obese (those individuals spend about $1500 more a

year on health care than the non-obese).

[Guest guest]

I have been singing this song for years to any who would listen and the scary trend is that obesity related costs have doubled between 2007 and 2008 (probably diabetes medication). While this is not pocket change at something like $150 B /year, it is dwarfed by unnecessary medical tests performed to prevent malpractice exposure (something like $700B). Good news IIRC childhood obesity is leveling off so maybe we are turning a corner on education for the kid, but the adults go through life only semiconsciously considering healthy dietary decisions (like buying candy with green wrappers). I saw one ad touting that canned ravioli counts as a serving of vegetables.. :-) Don't expect a thoughtful or honest discussion about this from politicians, they are just in a classic social engineering power grab. They are the last people to be making health decisions for us. Of course opinions vary.JRPS: I still live in the fattest state... :-(On Jul 27, 2009, at 6:13 PM, Francesca Skelton wrote: That was the astounding figure on tonight's national news along with the increased costs of being obese (those individuals spend about $1500 more a year on health care than the non-obese).