Can't have it both ways - is obesity really straining the healthcare system?

Are healthcare costs for obese people really more than those for healthy people? By current estimates, about 9.1 percent of annual US medical costs are obesity-related.  Additionally, up to 86 percent of Americans will be overweight and 51 percent obese by 2030.

Even with that data, it depends on who you ask.  The anti-obesity campaign uses this fact as a standard under which to rally the faithful.  Mayor Menino even cited it as a basis for banning the sale and marketing of soda on city property and at city sponsored events.  If expenses are more for obese people, then making soda equivalent to contraband makes sense, since it accounts for about 10 percent of the calories in the US diet. 

Soda? Easy to blame but not the only culprit.

 On April 7th this year, Mayor Menino signed a ban on selling or promoting soda on city property and at city sponsored events.  The six month phase out period ends early next month.   This may seem simplistic at best and draconian at worst but Boston public schools have been soda free since 2004.

The Robert Woods Johnson Foundation released the results  of a two year study on Boston high school students indicating that they actually consumed roughly 45 fewer calories per day.   For the visual learner among us, this  translates to about one kiwi.  But seriously, they tracked consumption during and after  school hours and found that kids did not go looking for soda to make up for the it's absence at school. 

 

Last year, Massachusetts joined  40 other states in levying a sales tax on soda and candy.  With all these measures in place, does this mean that the battle against obesity is as good as won?