Bloomberg Business (March 5) -- Obesity is weighing on the U.S. economy. As a panel of scientists considers ways to help Americans trim down, unpublished research shows medical expenses linked to being extremely overweight have skyrocketed. Experts say the damage is augmented by reduced productivity, wider gender and income inequality and even higher transportation costs. As many as one billion additional gallons of gasoline are consumed each year transporting overweight and obese Americans, according to research from Sheldon Jacobson and Douglas King at Illinois. That would amount to about $2.5 billion, according to the average cost of regular gasoline as of March 3.
Related story: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (March 8) -- “Obesity is hurting the economy in surprising ways,’’ Bloomsburg Business scolded, relying in part on a University of Illinois study that said the surge in driving since the 1950s is behind the bump in America’s belt size.Sheldon Jacobson, the University of Illinois researcher, said a few years ago that if every licensed driver reduced travel by a mile a day, it would take only six years before 5 million fewer adults would be classified as obese. Also: The Chicago Tribune (March 6).