Elonka wrote:
] Health posts, I've been following. I saw your other obesity
] posts, and agree with them. Yes, obesity is a crisis in our
] country. The numbers I've been seeing in the health magazines
] are actually higher than what you found -- More like 75% of
] our country is overweight or out of shape, not 60%.

I would readily believe a statement like "75% of Americans don't get enough exercise." I got the 60% obesity figure from supersizeme.com, so that figure may already be two years old. And if you've looked at the Census data, you know what a dramatic difference two years can make on the nation's waistline.

] So in any case, yes, I agree with you. But no, I don't think
] the new reports are going to change behaviors.
]
] As for where to place the blame, I agree that everyone has a
] personal responsibility to take care of their own lifestyle,
] but I also think that fast food chains and heavy marketing
] share a lot of the blame.

Personal responsibility is a key component, but fighting obesity is not a purely selfish consideration. There is also an altruistic component that draws on an individual's sense of civic duty. Further, we share a social responsibility to protect each other, not just on a person-to-person basis, but on a collective level, as well.

When it comes to obesity in the US today, I don't expect many people to readily accept my arguments about civic duty and social responsibility. Obesity is already a true crisis in the United States, but its detrimental effect on GDP is not yet widely acknowledged by the general public. Even for smoking, no one really talked about this. But with smoking, the US was not distinguished in this regard; it was a world-wide problem. Today, obesity is a singularly American problem in a way that smoking never was. Because of this great disparity among nations, we may be at a significant competitive disadvantage, but it is one whose effects may be difficult to measure because we're dealing with a long term (life long) investment.

This is why I drew comparisons to AIDS in Africa. Although the communicability of AIDS gives it epidemic properties that obesity does not exhibit, I observe that within two decades the incidence of drug-resistant adult-onset diabetes in a first-world country (the US) may exceed the incidence of AIDS in even the worst-afflicted third-world countries. I expect some people may be offended by that comparison; these people miss my point. I am not saying they are equal. I am simply trying to demonstrate that pervasive chronic illness has a major depressive effect on the national economy and on the national well-being in societal terms. I observe as well that because first-world countries have so much more at stake -- meaning so much more to lose -- they have even more reason to be vigilant against such dangers. And yet we are not.

If you think healthcare in the US today is out of control, just you wait. When 50% of Americans suffer from diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol, and 25% have had a heart bypass operation by age 40, then maybe I'll be able to get your attention.

RE: 'Diabesity,' a Crisis in an Expanding Country