HealthHabits

Just when you thought that the world couldn't get any fatter….

According to a paper published in The Lancet, there will be 65,000,000 more obese Americans by 2030.

And it’s not just the U.S. of A.

Great Britain is aiming to plop another 11,000,000 obese citizens and their accompanying health conditions onto their already overburdened National Health Service.

And those health conditions don’t come cheap.

fat world fat globe

 

In the U.S. alone, it’s estimated that medical costs associated with the treatment of new obesity related disease will increase by $48-66 billion per year. And considering how much of that cost will be borne by the American taxpayer, perhaps American politicians should stop mocking Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move program and start thinking up better ways to cut the fat.

And here’s why:

The researchers predicted the following impacts for the U.S. by 2030:

  • Obesity prevalence among men will rise from 32% in 2008 to approximately 50%
  • Obesity prevalence among women will rise from 35% to between 45% and 52%.
  • 7.8 million extra cases of diabetes
  • 6.8 million more cases of coronary heart disease and stroke
  • 539,000 additional cases of cancer
  • Annual spending on obesity-related diseases would rise by 13-16%, leading to 2.6% increase in national health spending.
  • Total medical costs associated with treatment of these preventable diseases are estimated to increase by $48-66 billion/year.

For the U.K., researchers predicted the following developments by 2030:

  • Prevalence of obesity among men would increase from 26% to between 41—48%.
  • Prevalence of obesity among women would increase from 26% to 35-43%.
  • 668 000 more cases of diabetes
  • 461,000 more cases of heart disease and stroke
  • 139,000 additional cases of cancer.
  • In the U.K., annual spending on obesity-related health would increase even more rapidly than in the U.S. due to its older population, rising 25%.

Conclusion

The next 20 years are going to be a great time to be a bariatric surgeon.

Reference

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