The Economic Impact of Obesity in the United States

It is no secret that an unhealthy diet negatively affects your body. Something that the majority of Americans don’t consider to be an important consequence of obesity is the social and economic impacts that it can have on an individual as well as on a national level. According to the article The Dose Makes the Poison, “obesity is a multifactorial disease: genetics, lifestyle choices, metabolism, and diet.” However, the impact of this disease on the nation as a whole is more intense than we assume. This paper will discuss the mental and physical tolls that obesity can cause, the economic costs and overlooked risks of obesity, and why I’ve decided to dedicate myself and my career to this disease.

The toll that obesity takes on a person’s body and mind is unmatched. It is not as hard as one might think to allow one’s body to grow to an unmovable size. It is, however, very difficult to lose the weight in a healthy and sustainable way. According to an article entitled The Economic Impact of Obesity in the United States published in 2010, “rates of obesity have doubled since 1970 to over 30%, with more than two-thirds of Americans now overweight.” (Hammond and Levine, 2010). This disease is not uncommon and with the way that technology and transportation is evolving, obesity rates will increase further over time. People have less incentive now to walk to do their errands than they did years ago, with apps like Uber, Lyft, and Instacart. Although genetics do play a part in this disease, lifestyle choices are at the top of the list of obesity offenders. In the article The Dose Makes the Poison, author Samir Faruque wrote that “the US population still consumes more than 300% of the recommended daily amount of added sugar.” Sugar and overly processed foods have their place in today’s society just as it did 10 years ago. According to chapter 8 of our textbook, “the increase in demand for packaged food with a longer shelf life prevents aerobic growth but supports anaerobic pathogens like Clostridia, which can be deadly.” (Living with The Earth, Moore, page 315). Consistently relying on processed food can be dangerous, as Moore mentions, and can lead to foodborne illnesses. However, sugar is not the only adversary in the battle that obesity seems to be winning. Mental disorders such as Anorexia nervosa, Bulimia nervosa, and binge eating disorder (BED) take extreme physical and psychological tolls on a person. Just like obesity, these eating disorders cause people to disconnect from reality and form unhealthy habits surrounding food. It may take years to recover from disorders like these, but it is not impossible. In chapter 4 of Living with The Earth, Moore mentions lesser developed countries and their struggle with food insecurities and problems like obesity. “Obesity in the United States has risen from 8 percent of the population in 1980 to 20 percent currently. In lesser-developed countries (LDCs), nutritional diseases are often coupled with political, cultural, or emotional problems that make solutions more difficult than simply increasing caloric intake. Malnutrition, as a consequence of inadequate diet, is often associated with ignorance and poverty.” (Living with the Earth, Moore, page 135). When people make choices about the foods that they consume, there are certain questions that are usually considered. What is the cost? Is it close by? Will my kids eat this? All of these questions are valid, and some families do not have the luxury of buying healthy food if it’s not convenient to them. These problems are something that many organizations like Meals on Wheels and Feeding America attack each day. 

According to authors Ross Hammond and Ruth Levine, there are “at least four major categories of economic impact linked with the obesity epidemic.” These categories include direct medical costs, productivity costs, transportation costs, and human capital costs. As stated in the article The Dose Makes the Poison, current estimates for these costs range from $147 to $210 billion per year. That number is extremely high considering obesity is mostly the consequence of poor lifestyle and eating choices. In chapter 8 of the textbook, Moore discusses the different medical costs one can come across when dealing with obesity and some foodborne illnesses that might accompany it. “Medical costs incurred during the treatment of an illness and the loss of wages for those who must stay home from work are examples of expenses encountered by individuals inflicted with a foodborne illness.” (Living with The Earth, Moore, page 303). Medical bills are not always covered by insurance, and most people in this country don’t have medical insurance to begin with. That means that people are stuck with bills they can’t afford and a disease that is difficult to fully recover from. Knowing this may help people begin to take the health of the bodies more seriously. 

Maintaining an unhealthy lifestyle is dangerous when it comes to obesity because there are many lifelong afflictions that can linger even after one loses the weight. Hammond and Levine wrote in their article that obesity can lead to potentially deadly health issues like “hypertension, type 2 diabetes, hypercholesterolemia, coronary heart disease (CHD), stroke, asthma, and arthritis.” These issues can cause people to accumulate medical debt, and this can and will add unnecessary stress to a person’s already stressful life. Chapter 12 of the textbook discusses risks and personal choices. “Many of life’s risks are voluntary, based on people’s personal choices, such as diet and exercise, hobbies like rock climbing and sunbathing, and habits like smoking. We accept many risks in our lives, not only because we enjoy the risks themselves, but also because the risks (i.e., the likelihood) of an adverse event or outcome seem both unlikely and remote.” (Living with the Earth, Moore, page 486). Although becoming obese is rarely the goal for most people, it all comes down to personal choices and whether or not someone is considering the risks of what they’re doing before it is too late.

I took a special interest in the subject of obesity because of my family. My brother struggles with Bipolar disorder and severe developmental delay that restricts him from making decisions that other adults deem as “normal”. His food choices are almost all processed foods high in sugar, and he does not like to eat anything green. Not for a lack of my mom and I trying; he just refuses to eat anything he thinks is “healthy”. This, unfortunately, has caused him to gain a lot of weight in his mid-section. It worries me as I am his older sister, and I understand the danger that obesity can bring to someone as young as he is. Because of this, I have decided that I’d like to encourage anyone and everyone that seeks help to acknowledge and change their eating habits. I believe that it’s never too late to begin living a healthier lifestyle. Obesity is not always genetic, and can’t always be avoided, but it is something that can be reversed if someone has the support and will power to make a change.