This Wall Street Journal article from a few weeks ago notes that Colorado is now the only state to have an obesity rate below 20%. If you want to watch the pattern of obesity spread over time, check out this post from April 2008.
About a year ago, I made suggestions about the primary causes of health care cost increases and included obesity as one of them.
Paradoxically, now that we have provided more universal access to care, we can expect costs to rise faster. Look here to see evidence of that in France.
Thus far, it has been politically unacceptable to address problems related to obesity. We even have trouble designing a Food Pyramid without the influence of lobbying groups.
Can that change? Unfortunately, cuts in local budgets often flow through in the form of reducing physical education time in schools.
But I remember being a boy and hearing from President Kennedy about the importance of physical fitness. It made a big impression. Would it be possible for today's presidents and governors and mayors to do the same?
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