The big, fat truth about Americans
... raising our children to step away from the video games and spend more time playing outside. ...
This week, researchers published a study in the journal Health Affairs that found that as obesity rose 37 percent over the last decade, the cost of obesity to the nation has nearly doubled from $78.5 billion a year to $147 billion a year. Obesity now accounts for nearly 10 percent of all healthcare spending. The per capita cost of medical care for someone who is obese is $1,429 a year, 42 percent more than for the care of someone of normal weight.
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The money we now lose in just one year to obesity is five times the budget of Massachusetts. It is nearly 16 times what the federal government has made available to states from 1992 to 2008 for transportation enhancements such as bicycle and pedestrian paths.
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But just as Americans need him [Obama] to bluntly tell us we’re fat, Capitol Hill has to ... support cities and suburbs in redesigning streets and parks to support people who want to cycle or go out for a run and children who want to play outside. In a crusade against fat, flabby politics will not do. <a href="http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2009/08/01/the_big_fat_truth_about_americans/">http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2009/08/01/the_big_fat_truth_about_americans/</a>;
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