Fat$America:$The$Obesity$Epidemic$ · Fat$America:$The$Obesity$Epidemic$2$ $ Executive$Summary$ $ $...

Joe Nano The obesity epidemic in the United States has grown out of control. Over the past 35 years, obesity rates have more than doubled. The average American is more than 24 pounds heavier today than in 1960. To provide some context for the magnitude of the current obesity rate in the U.S., more than a third of adults (34.9 percent) were obese as of 2011 to 2012. More than two-‐thirds of adults were overweight or obese (68.5 percent). Approximately 16.9 percent of children (ages 2 to 19) were obese in 2011 to 2012, and 31.8 percent were either overweight or obese. Rates of both obesity and severe obesity are continuing to increase among both adults and children in America. The associated health problems that result from obesity have resulted in an estimated annual medical cost of $190 billion and have surpassed the medical costs associated with tobacco use. Yet medical costs are just one of the several negative impacts the epidemic has had on our society. In order to cure the epidemic that is plaguing our nation we must change existing policy and enact new policies on both the governmental and organizational level before the repercussions are insurmountable.

B u c k n e l l U n i v e r s i t y T h e S t a k e h o l d e r O r g a n i z a t i o n : M G M T 3 0 2 P r o f e s s o r J o r d i C o m a s

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Fat America: The Obesity Epidemic

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Fat America: The Obesity Epidemic 2

Executive Summary The obesity epidemic in the United States has become not only an individual

problem, but also a national problem—even for those citizens whom are not obese

themselves. The estimated annual medical cost of obesity in the U.S. was $190

billion in 2012 U.S. dollars; the annual medical costs for obese men and women

were $1,152 and $3,613 higher than individuals of normal weight, respectively.1

The staggering medical cost of obesity in the U.S. has overtaken the national medical

costs associated with smoking as the number one public health concern when it

comes to cost.2 Yet there are many other costs associated with obesity that are

commonly overlooked such as the loss of productivity both in and out of the

workplace which I will further delve into in the body of this paper.

The policies of the United States Federal Government has worked to further

the interest of corporations that are providing American consumers with the fatty

foods that have played a key role in the rising obesity rates in the country. In order

to prevent the negative implications that the epidemic has had on our society both

the government and organizations must work together for the interests of their

shared constituents, the American people. Although lowering the current rate of

obesity in America is not something that can be achieved overnight, if we do not

take action as a society soon, the exponential growth of obesity will grow along with

the numerous severe repercussions associated with the disorder on our society.

1 http://www.forbes.com/sites/rickungar/2012/04/30/obesity-‐now-‐costs-‐americans-‐more-‐in-‐healthcare-‐costs-‐than-‐smoking/ 2 http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/adult.html

Fat America: The Obesity Epidemic 3

Table of Contents

Executive Summary ..................................................................................................... 2

Introduction ................................................................................................................. 4

The State of Obesity in America ................................................................................... 5 The Epidemic’s Rapid Growth .............................................................................................................................. 5 Obesity Rates Remain High ................................................................................................................................... 5 Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Obesity .......................................................................................................... 6 Socioeconomic Status: A Strong Correlation to Obesity ........................................................................... 7

The Societal Costs of Obesity ....................................................................................... 8 Lost Productivity ........................................................................................................................................................ 9 Medical Costs ............................................................................................................................................................ 10 The Longevity of the Obese ................................................................................................................................ 11

Uncle Sam Wants You to Get Super Sized ................................................................... 11 The Roots of Obesity in America ...................................................................................................................... 11 Governmental Policy: Uncle Sam is for a Fatter America ...................................................................... 13 The Steps to Recovery: How to Cure the Obesity Epidemic ......................................... 15 Step One: Governmental Policy Changes ...................................................................................................... 15 Step Two: Changes on the Organizational Level ....................................................................................... 16 Schools .......................................................................................................................................................................... 16 Responsible Players in the Food Industry ..................................................................................................... 18

Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 20

Works Cited ............................................................................................................... 22

Introduction Obesity is a complex disorder, which is characterized by an excessive amount

of body fat. An individual is likely to be diagnosed as obese if their body mass index

(BMI) is 30 or higher.3 Your body mass index is calculated by dividing your weight

in kilograms (kg) by your height in meters (m) squared. Obesity is not just a

concern in regards to the individual’s cosmetic (or physical) appearance; it is also a

major health risk. Obesity increases an individual’s risk to certain diseases and

health problems such as heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and certain types of

cancer, some of the leading causes of preventable death.4

The obesity epidemic in the United States has become not only an individual

problem, but also a national problem—even for those citizens whom are not obese

themselves. The estimated annual medical cost of obesity in the U.S. was $190

billion in 2012 U.S. dollars; the annual medical costs for obese men and women

were $1,152 and $3,613 higher than individuals of normal weight, respectively.5

The staggering medical cost of obesity in the U.S. has overtaken the national medical

costs associated with smoking as the number one public health concern when it

comes to cost.3

The United States’ obesity problem must be changed for the both the

betterment of those with the disorder and other citizens of the country, which has

been plagued by the resulting impactions of an increasingly obese population. This

3 http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-‐conditions/obesity/basics/symptoms/con-‐20014834 4 http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/adult.html 5 http://www.forbes.com/sites/rickungar/2012/04/30/obesity-‐now-‐costs-‐americans-‐more-‐in-‐healthcare-‐costs-‐than-‐smoking/

paper will show the means by which we can combat the obesity epidemic that has

continued to plague the nation. Yet, in order to successfully stave off the epidemic, it

will require a combination changes at the governmental and organizational level.

The State of Obesity in America

The Epidemic’s Rapid Growth In the United States, obesity rates among both children and adults have risen

drastically putting millions of Americans’ health at risk due to the health problems

that are associated with obesity. Over the past 35 years, obesity rates have more

than doubled.6 From 2009 to 2010 to 2011 to 2012, rates remained the same.6 The

average American is more than 24 pounds heavier today than in 1960.6 Childhood

obesity rates have more than tripled since 1980.6 The rates have remained the same

for the past 10 years.6 The growth of obesity in the United States is staggering.

Obesity Rates Remain High

Moreover, obesity and severe obesity rates in the U.S. continue to increase

among both adults and children in the United States. To

provide some context for the magnitude of the obesity

epidemic, more than a third of adults (34.9 percent) were

obese as of 2011 to 2012.6 More than two-‐thirds of adults

were overweight or obese (68.5 percent). 6 Approximately

16.9 percent of children (ages 2 to 19) were obese in 2011

6 http://stateofobesity.org/obesity-‐rates-‐trends-‐overview/

to 2012, and 31.8 percent were either overweight or obese.7 Rates of severe obesity

are continuing to increase in adults, and more than one-‐in-‐ten children becomes

obese as early as the ages of 2 to 57.

Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Obesity Minorities in America are experiencing even higher rates of obesity when

compared with Whites. This is in part due to the inequities that persist in income

and education with minorities, as poorer and less educated Americans are

experiencing higher rates of obesity than more affluent and higher educated

populations. To give this some context 47.8 percent of African Americans, 42.5

percent of Latinos, 32.6 percent of Whites and 10.8 percent of Asian Americans

were obese (2011 to 2012). 7 With the average obesity for all American adults as of

2011-‐2012 at 34.9%, it is clear that obesity rates are substantially higher for

minority populations as Black and Latino obesity rates are 12.9% and 7.6% higher,

7 http://stateofobesity.org/obesity-‐rates-‐trends-‐overview/

respectively.8 Furthermore, in relation to the White obesity rates, Black and Latino

obesity rates are 15.2% and 9.9% higher, respectively.8 These higher obesity rates

among minority populations are consistent with the trend of individuals of lower

socioeconomic status being directly correlation to high obesity rates.

Socioeconomic Status: A Strong Correlation to Obesity In 2012, a study was done which examined data from the Behavioral Risk

Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) that looked at income, level of schooling

completed and obesity rates.

The study found strong

correlations between obesity

and income, and between

obesity and education. Over

35 percent of adults age 26

and older who did not

graduate high school were obese, compared with 22.1 percent of those who

graduated from college or technical college.8 Thirty-‐three percent of adults who

earn less than $15,000 per year were obese, compared with 25.4 percent of those

who earned at least $50,000 per year.8 Another study of obesity, income and

education was done with date from the 2005-‐2008 National Health and Nutrition

Examination Survey (NHANES). The study found that among men, obesity

prevalence is similar at all income levels whereas among women obesity prevalence

increases as income decreases.8 The study also found that among men, education 8 http://stateofobesity.org/socioeconomics-‐obesity/

level is not significantly related to obesity prevalence, but among women obesity

prevalence increases as education decreases8. Low Income and minimal education

among women is very strongly correlated to obesity.

The Societal Costs of Obesity

Obesity rates are rising at an alarming rate in the United States. But, if you’re

not obese why does it matter to you? Does this epidemic even affect you? The

answer to both of these questions is yes. As I stated before in the introduction, the

estimated annual medical cost of obesity in the U.S. was $190 billion in 2012 U.S.

dollars; the annual medical costs for obese men and women were $1,152 and $3,613

higher than those of normal weight, respectively.9 These aforementioned medical

costs of obesity stem from a variety of implications, ranging from the increased

insurance premiums we all pay to subsidize the added medical charges incurred by

obese individuals to the surprisingly dramatic impact our collective pounds has on

energy costs.9 According to Sheldon Jacobson of the University of Illinois, the extra

weight carried by vehicles as a result of obese and overweight Americans is

responsible for almost one billion additional gallons of gasoline being burned each 9 http://www.forbes.com/sites/rickungar/2012/04/30/obesity-‐now-‐costs-‐americans-‐more-‐in-‐healthcare-‐costs-‐than-‐smoking/

year by our automobiles—nearly 1 percent of our total gasoline usage10. Using

today’s oil prices, even though recently the price of oil has significantly decreased,

this would amount to $2.66 billion dollars.11 In terms of carbon dioxide (CO2)

emissions, these one billion additional gallons of gas—due to the extra weight

carried by vehicles as a result of overweight Americans—emits 19.64 billion pounds

of C02 emissions.12 This is minor in respect to the following societal impacts of the

obesity epidemic that I will speak about next, yet it shows how even such an obscure

implication of obesity has a significant impact on our nation both monetarily and

environmentally.

Lost Productivity The health problems associated with obesity result in a loss of productivity in

the United States, as the obese and severely obese are absent from work more

frequently than people of healthy weight. The most obese men take 5.9 more sick

days a year; the most obese women, 9.4 days more.10 Obesity-‐related absenteeism

costs employers as much as $6.4 billion a year, health economists led by Eric

Finkelstein of Duke University calculated.10 However, even when these obese

workers are not kept at home due to a weight related illness, such workers aren’t as

productive as they suffer from shortness of breath or other obstacles detrimental to

productivity. Such a loss of productivity is due to obesity-‐related “presenteeism,” or

the act of attending work while sick. A study showed that the very obese lose one

month of productive work per year, costing employers an average of $3,792 per 10 http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/30/us-‐obesity-‐idUSBRE83T0C820120430 11 http://www.fuelgaugereport.com 12 http://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.cfm?id=307&t=11

very obese male worker and $3,037 per female.13 Total annual cost of presenteeism

due to obesity was calculated to be an astounding $30 billion.13

Employers are not the only ones who suffer from the repercussion of obesity

on productivity in the workplace. Obese workers’ decreased productivity has

proved to reduce wages as employers penalize less productive workers. Several

studies have shown that the obese are less likely to be hired and promoted than

their healthy colleagues. Women in particular bear the brunt of that implication,

earning about 11 percent less than women of healthy weight, health economist John

Cawley of Cornell University found.13 At the average weekly U.S. wage of $669 in

2010, that's a $76 weekly and $3,952 annually obesity tax.13

Medical Costs When obese workers are not hurting productivity while in the work place,

because they must take a sick day for an obesity related illness, the medical costs

associated with the epidemic keep accruing. Obese men rack up an additional

$1,152 a year in medical spending, especially for hospitalizations and prescription

drugs, Cawley and Chad Meyerhoefer of Lehigh University reported in January in the

Journal of Health Economics.13 Obese women account for an extra $3,613 a year.13

Using data from 9,852 men (average BMI: 28) and 13,837 women (average BMI: 27)

ages 20 to 64, among whom 28 percent were obese, the researchers found even

higher costs among the uninsured: annual medical spending for an obese person

was $3,271 compared with $512 for the non-‐obese.13 Nationally, this factor alone

costs Americans $190 billion a year in additional medical spending as a result of 13 http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/30/us-‐obesity-‐idUSBRE83T0C820120430

obesity, calculated Cawley, or a total of 20.6 percent of the United States’ entire

health care expenditures.14

The Longevity of the Obese With these incredibly high medical costs and the aforementioned health

problems associated with obesity, surely these individuals must have shorter life

expectancies. This is what researchers suspected for years, that the higher medical

costs of obesity might be offset by the possibility that the obese would die young,

and thus never rack up spending for nursing homes, Alzheimer's care, and other

pricey items. This is what happened to smokers, and thus is why researchers

hypothesized that it would also be the case with the obese population, but the obese

have proved resilient. Beta blockers for heart disease, diabetes drugs, and other

treatments are keeping the obese alive longer, with the result that they incur

astronomically high medical expenses in old age just like their slimmer peers.14 As

obesity rates continue to rise in the United States, the obese will get older and more

people will become obese furthering the already excessive medical costs incurred by

the American people.

Uncle Sam Wants You to Get Super Sized

The Roots of Obesity in America What has led to the astoundingly high growth in obesity rates in the United

States? Junk food. Fast food and processed foods are a staple of American diets and

are a key contributor to the fattening of the American people. According to a Gallup 14 http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/30/us-‐obesity-‐idUSBRE83T0C820120430

poll, eight in 10 Americans report eating at fast-‐food restaurants at least monthly,

with almost half saying they eat fast food at least weekly.15 Only 4% of Americans

say they never eat at fast-‐food restaurants15. Americans are not ignorant to the fact

that these foods are lacking in nutritional value and unhealthy, 76% of people in the

U.S. think the food served in fast-‐food restaurants is "not too good" or "not good at

all for you.”15 Clearly American’s are heavily reliant on such fatty foods and they

know such foods are bad for them, but why?

The appeal of these junk food products to the American people is largely due

to their relatively low cost, their tastiness, and the convenience. The typically low

cost of fast foods is highly appealing to many Americans, but surprisingly the low

cost is not as appealing to low-‐income individuals as it is to wealthier Americans.

Wealthier Americans—those earning $75,000 a year or more—are more likely to eat

fast food at least weekly (51%) than are lower-‐income groups.15 Those earning the

least actually are the least likely to eat fast food weekly—39% of Americans earning

less than $20,000 a year do so.15 This discrepancy is, in part, the tastiness and

convenience that the industry knows appeals to its consumers.

Michael Moss, a Pulitzer Prize winning investigative journalist for the New

York Times describes such foods as “weaponized” as they artificially manipulate

their products to make them addicting to the consumer: “They prefer words like

alluring, craveable, smackable. But the aim is the same, which is to create the perfect

formula and amounts of salt, sugar and fat that will send us over the moon and make

15 http://www.gallup.com/poll/163868/fast-‐food-‐major-‐part-‐diet.aspx

their products irresistible.”16 Moss explains how major players in the food industry

manipulate one of the ingredients that make their products so tasty—salt.

Salt manufacturers convert [salt] into just all kinds of shapes and sizes aimed at perfecting its use in various processed foods, from very fine powders that dissolve in soup to the kosher-‐style pyramid salt that dissolves three times faster and is sold as having the biggest flavor burst in foods.16

Artificially chemically engineered ‘salt’ is just one of the additives these food giants

use to hook their junkies. The other major additives that send their consumers over

the moon are corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, cornstarch, and vegetable

shortening. Corn and soybeans are the two main crops that are processed into

theses additives. To the American consumer the low cost, convenience, and

tastiness of fast food and processed foods outweighs the associated health concerns.

Yet, governmental policies that should try and combat the issue continue to support

the industry that is making more and more Americans obese every year and

increasing the associated detrimental effects of obesity.

Governmental Policy: Uncle Sam is for a Fatter America

Long-‐standing federal agriculture policies have provided hundreds of billions

of dollars to these crops that are responsible for fueling the obesity epidemic in the

country. Congress and the Department of Agriculture are

spending more than $1.28 billion annually to subsidize the

crops that are used as additives in manufacturing cookies,

candies, soda pop and other highly popular junk food that

arguably are among the primary contributors to childhood

16 http://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2013/03/28/you-‐are-‐what-‐-‐you-‐eat

obesity.17 Of the $277 billion spent on farm subsidy programs since 1995, about

$81.7 billion went to subsidize corn and $26.3 billion went for soybeans.17 In a sign

of the political clout of the biggest producers, 75 percent of the all those subsidies

have gone to just 3.8 percent of U.S. farmers. In contrast, the government has

provided only $637 million for apples or vegetables.17 Moss further describes the

shocking truth of how industry lobbyists have shaped our governmental policies to

further obesity in the country.

I was stunned that, in many cases, the government agencies that are supposed to be regulating the processes in the food industry are not. And the cheese example is a great one. The government incentivized the dairy industry to make so much cheese it piled up. Then Washington created a scheme that allows the industry to raise tens of millions of dollars for marketing to get us to eat more cheese as an additive in cooking and processed foods. Our cheese consumption has tripled since the 70s, and it's now the No. 1 source of all that saturated fat we're getting.18

By 2030, half of all Americans will be overweight, adding tens of billions of dollars

more to the annual cost of treating them.17 However, the government continues to

pass favorable legislation that, with tax payer dollars, provides hundreds of billions

of dollars to the industry which already contributes to the immense annual cost of

obesity in the United States. In June of 2012, the U.S. Senate overwhelming

approved new farm legislation that will cost taxpayers nearly $1 trillion over the

coming decade.17 The current governmental policies not only continue to burn a

whole in the wallets of their tax payers, but are also detrimental to Americans as

they further increase both the rates of obesity and costs associated with the obesity

epidemic.

17 http://www.businessinsider.com/billions-‐in-‐tax-‐dollars-‐subsidize-‐the-‐junk-‐food-‐industry-‐2012-‐7 18 http://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2013/03/28/you-‐are-‐what-‐-‐you-‐eat

The Steps to Recovery: How to Cure the Obesity Epidemic

Step One: Governmental Policy Changes The first step, on the road to recovery from the addiction of fatty foods that

are currently a major part of Americans’ diets, is to change the governmental

policies that continue to promote the food industry’s manipulation of American

consumers with their chemically enhanced artificially flavorful foods. The

governmental policies, in respect to food and agriculture, should work towards

promoting healthier and nutritious foods, which would result in healthier diets and

healthier Americans. Further policies should also be implemented to stifle the

growth of both fatty foods and the use of crops to create the additives that

artificially enhance the flavor of these foods.

Although the 2014 Farm Bill included several nutrition-‐related provisions,

The Department of Agriculture should ensure such provisions are implemented

both effectively and in a timely manner.19 Furthermore, the federal agricultural

subsidies which are primarily allocated towards corn and soybeans (the main crops

that are used to be processed into additives) should be allocated more towards

fruits and vegetables and the subsidies that are provided for such crops should be

restricted in regards to their use in producing such food “weaponizing” additives.

Such a restriction would help prevent the foods that are artificially enhanced with

additives from being produced as producing the unhealthy additives would be more

expensive. Firms who continued to sell these crops for the purpose of producing

additives would not receive a government subsidy. Thus, the firms purchasing these

19 http://sustainableagriculture.net/blog/2014-‐farm-‐bill-‐by-‐numbers/

crops to use as additives to their fatty foods would have to incur the increased cost

of the crop from their suppliers due to the lack of a government sponsored subsidy

which originally mitigated the full cost.

To further promote a more nutritious diet among Americans, the government

could also impose a higher corporate tax rate or a higher sales tax for such fatty

foods. The tax revenues provided by these policies would help offset the costs

associated with the obesity problem in the country as well as provide funding for

new nutritional subsidies to promote a healthier America.

These proposed policy changes are similar in nature to the governmental

policies imposed on the tobacco industry that were the result of the industries

negative effect on the health of Americans. Now that the medical costs of obesity in

the United States has surpassed that of health related issues to smoking, such a

policy change seems fitting. These policies, when implemented upon the tobacco

industry, proved effective in providing the country revenues to offset the costs

incurred by the detrimental health effect of their product. If the federal government

took such a stance on fatty foods in imposing these policies on the food and

agricultural industry, it would set a precedent for Americans impelling them to

strive to live healthier lifestyles.

Step Two: Changes on the Organizational Level

Schools Child obesity rates are at an all time high. Schools are the best place to teach

the American youth how to live a healthy lifestyle, as they will maintain the habits

they learn as a child into adulthood. First, we must take steps to ensure that only

healthy food options are being provided to students in order to develop healthy

eating habits while they are young so they can carry those habits on into their later

lives. We must also promote the importance and time allotted to physical activity

(i.e. exercise). Schools are the medium by which the United States can stop its

obesity epidemic at the source and prevent future generation of Americans from

become obese, ultimately lowering the country’s obesity rates.

While their has been regulation imposed to make foods offered at schools

around the country healthier, the USDA should continue to monitor state and local

implementation of both updated school meal and snack food and beverage

standards and provide adequate training and technical assistance where needed to

states, localities, industry and school nutrition organizations.20 Additionally,

adequate funding should be provided to schools that lack the necessary tools and

resources to provide healthy meals that meet USDA nutritional standards.

Physical activity, whether it is on the playground or during gym class, is a

necessity to keep the youth active. This is becoming increasingly important, as

technology has made children more inclined to sit behind a screen rather than play

outside during their leisure time. The NFL’s NFL PLAY 60 program is one initiative

that is intended to help promote kids to get active and play outside, “NFL athletes

grew up playing in communities all across

America. Now, through NFL PLAY 60, they're

encouraging kids in neighborhoods

everywhere to come out to play for 60 minutes

20 http://stateofobesity.org/school-‐foods/

a day.”21 Not only is physical activity important at a young age to stay fit and

healthy, it also allows kids to develop interest in sports and other outdoor activities

that they can continue to pursue as they grow older. Fostering these interest at a

young age will help prevent kids from staying behind their TVs and computer

screens and teach them to stay fit through exercise because a healthy diet is just one

of the ingredients to a healthy lifestyle.

By teaching Americans at a young age how to stay healthy we’ll be more

successful in keeping them away from the addictive enhanced fatty foods and

unhealthy habits that were the causes of our current obesity epidemic. Ensuring the

youth of America develops habits conducive to a healthy lifestyle will help us in

mitigating the future costs of obesity while also preventing that cost from

continuing to increase the burden of the epidemic on the taxpayer. The current rate

of obesity among adults will be hard to change as those individuals have already

developed the habits that are characteristic of an unhealthy lifestyle, thus the youth

are our best chance of curing the country of the epidemic.

Responsible Players in the Food Industry With the aforementioned policy changes implemented by the federal

government in the food and agriculture industry, in order to operate as a successful

firm in the food and agricultural space, firms will have to adapt a health oriented

business strategy. Firms who have already acted responsibly and provided their

consumers with healthy and nutritional products will have a competitive advantage

to their fatty food counterparts. The firms who continue to offer unhealthy products 21 http://www.nflrush.com/play60

will be out competed by their healthy competitors in the long run if they cannot

successfully introduce new healthy products. Thus, the policy changes will work to

change the marketplace in the food industry and make it more conducive to

changing the currently unhealthy diet of Americans.

Firms who continue to offer fatty foods will incur higher costs due to the

increased costs of the crops they use to process into additives and higher costs due

to higher taxation on such products from the corporate side. These costs will force

firms to raise their prices to maintain their profit margins, yet their revenues will

suffer from the increased sales tax for such goods on their consumers, which will

reduce the demand for their product.

Currently we have seen companies such as PepsiCo be on the forefront of

acting responsibly, before such aforementioned proposed regulation is

implemented in the industry. While they still maintain several brands that contain

additives that are unhealthy for consumers, they have created and developed

several healthy brands. PepsiCo’s two healthy “product porfolios” are called Better-‐

for-‐You and Good-‐for-‐You (as seen right).22

Already having such a portfolio of products will

allow PepsiCo to have a competitive and succeed

in the new health conscious marketplace

compared to its competitors in the food and

beverage industry.

22 http://www.pepsico.com/annual10/products/good-‐for-‐you.html

Socially responsible firms who already offer healthy and nutritional products

will outperform their competing firms in the industry that offer unhealthy products

in the long run. As the youth of America grows into adulthood they will maintain

the habits they developed as children and constitute the majority of American

consumers. The performance of the firms that have not acted socially responsible

and offered products that were unhealthy, but were tasty due to their use of

additives that manipulated their consumer into taste bud addicts, will justifiably

suffer from their failure to act in the best interest of their stakeholder (i.e. their

customers and the entirety of the American people who are incurring the costs that

have resulted from the obesity epidemic).

Conclusion

While it may take time for the effect of these changes in policy on both the

governmental and organizational level to achieve the ends of a healthier society, the

obesity epidemic is of paramount importance to the long run success of the United

States as a whole. The societal costs of the epidemic are already unprecedented. If

obesity rates to continue to rise, as a result of us not taking action to cure this

epidemic that has plagued our nation, the monetary and social costs on our society

will prove extraordinary as they continue to rapidly increase. Our government and

the organizations within our society must strive to act in the best interest of their

constituents, rather than the best interests of themselves whether that be through

kickback received through lobbyist or compensation earned by executives. If

organizations within our society do not act together to fight to cure the epidemic, we

may be unable to reverse the repercussions as they continue to magnify without

intervention.

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Report. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Dec. 2014. "Adult Obesity Facts." Centers for Disease Control and

Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 09 Sept. 2014. Web. 17 Dec. 2014.

Begley, Sharon. "As America's Waistline Expands, Costs Soar."

Reuters. Thomson Reuters, 30 Apr. 2012. Web. 18 Dec. 2014.

"Fast Food Still Major Part of U.S. Diet." Fast Food Still Major

Part of U.S. Diet. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Dec. 2014. "NFLRUSH PLAY 60 - NFLRUSH." RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Dec.

2014. "NSAC's Blog." National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition 2014

Farm Bill Drill Down The Bill by the Numbers Comments. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Dec. 2014.

"Obesity Now Costs Americans More In HealthCare Spending

Than Smoking." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, n.d. Web. 16 Dec. 2014.

"Obesity Rates & Trends Overview." : The State of Obesity. N.p.,

n.d. Web. 18 Dec. 2014. "Obesity." Symptoms. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Dec. 2014. "PEPSICO 2010 Annual Report." PEPSICO. N.p., n.d. Web. 19

Dec. 2014. Pianin, Eric. "How Billions In Tax Dollars Subsidize The Junk

Food Industry." Business Insider. Business Insider, Inc, 25 July 2012. Web. 19 Dec. 2014.

"U.S. Energy Information Administration - EIA - Independent

Statistics and Analysis." How Much Carbon Dioxide Is Produced by Burning Gasoline and Diesel Fuel? N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Dec. 2014.

US News. U.S.News & World Report, n.d. Web. 16 Dec. 2014.

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