36%: The share of the U.S. population that is obese, according to the OECD
Does economic growth always mean our lives are getting better? The case of obesity and the U.S. health-care industry offers reason to wonder.
Through good times and bad, health care has consistently been a driver of the American economy. Even in the latest recession, from 2007 to 2009, the sector added 413,000 workers as the wider economy lost 7.3 million jobs. That’s partially because we have an aging population that naturally pays more visits to doctors and hospitals. But it’s also related to the fact that people in the U.S. are getting troublingly fat.
As of 2009, about 36% of the U.S. population was obese and another 32% was merely overweight, according to estimates from theOrganization for Economic Cooperation and Development. That makes the U.S. the fattest among advanced nations, where the average obesity rate stands at about 16%.
Our weight isn’t a function of our wealth. Rather, obesity tends to be concentrated among the poorer and less-educated parts of the population. These people, according to a new OECD report, are more vulnerable to a convergence of factors — including changes in processing technology, government subsidies and marketing — that have made fats and sugars cheaper and more easily accessible than healthier foods, particularly in the places where the poor tend to live.
Obesity has been a boon for parts of the health-care industry. Consider kidney disease, which according to a 2006 study is three times more likely among the obese. From 1991 to 2009, the share of U.S. workers employed at kidney dialysis centers has more than doubled, tracing a path similar to that of the obesity rate. Population aging probably can’t account for much of the change: The number of people aged 65 or older grew 28% over the same period, while the total number of dialysis workers grew 164%.
To be sure, the health-care industry also works to prevent people from getting fat and sick — one of the aims of expanding health-insurance coverage. But where it’s growing along with our own misery, it’s hard to see that growth as progress.
Its good that the health care is adding jobs, but at the same time this could mean that Americans are getting more sick. Even if the heath care industry is doing better, the government needs to insure that people are eating healthier. Furthermore, a tax break on companies producing healthier foods may not be a bad idea. Right now "junk" food costs more than healthy food, and as a result people tend to buy the food not so good for your body. I even do it. Sometimes, when I am at a gas station, i debate whether to get juice or soda. But when I see juice is more expensive, I choose soda. So, the government needs to find a way to make healthy food less expensive.
ReplyDeleteThe issue with lower income families is also precisely why we have programs like WIC to provide mothers and children in low income families access to healthier, nutritional foods. Unfortunately such efforts are not enough. Also, a big reason junk foods are so cheap is that both the corn and sugar, key ingredients in most junk foods, are heavily subsidized by the government. Perhaps we should change this if we want to tackle the issue of obesity
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