My Obesity Rants, Vindicated: Krugman's column today talks about the Center of Consumer Freedom, and their fight against anti-Obesity efforts... something I have already mentioned twice here (see Monday, June 27 and Tuesday, June 21). As I argued in several papers last semester, Krugman says that "fat is a fiscal issue." You should definitely read this article, and if you want more, my papers from last semester on obesity as a future contingency of interest, particularly in the realm of economics. You can also read my paper which goes into some more detail on why you should be worried about obesity in terms of the costs to society. (I will post it later when I figure out how.)
posted by Zo at 9:01 AM
1 Comments:
In response to Chocolate Thunder: Actually, I'm quite sure that the costs of obesity are significantly higher than smoking, because smoking is linked to lung cancer, but obesity is linked to more than 40 different diseases. They are listed in the paper I'm still trying to figure out how to link, but range from heart disease to diabetes.
Secondly, I put obesity in the context of money in my paper because money is the only thing that some people respond to, and by framing it as an economic issue rather than a "touchy feely" personal or social welfare issue, I think it is more likely to gain attention from lawmakers. In understanding that obesity has tremendous (seriously, the costs are really enormous) costs not only for individuals but also for businesses and the public at large, I think the idea of having programs that increase education, and much healthier school lunches, prison meals and other federally funded food programs, and other initiatives becomes more appealing and more politically appealing, because it can be touted as a cost SAVING measure, rather than just another social handout.
To me, it seems that education truly lies at the heart of this, as it does for so many social ills, and for that reason I feel tremendous sympathy for people, especially children, who are obese: I feel that it is really unfair that they did not have two nutritionists as parents (like I did) who knew how to nourish them optimally and instill good eating habits in them. What I worry about is that obesity is disproportionately high in poor people, and with health care costs skyrocketing at a time when health care (specifically medicare, medicaid and military health costs)is becoming the largest portion of the US budget, I think those health care benefits are in serious jeopardy. Which would once again further the divide between the haves and have-nots.
As for the city thing, there are various studies that show that despite the fact that we do have a plethora of fast food joints in the city, people walk much more than they do in rural areas, and it really largely comes down to activity level. My dad, a physician who does a lot of obesity research, thinks that we will have to come back to walking again... not going to the gym, but just walking. I have to go to work, but if I missed anything, I'll respond more later.
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