CDC’s “Weight of the Nation” Conference Addresses Obesity Epidemic
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) hosted a “Weight of the Nation” conference July 27-29, 2009, in Washington, D.C., to explore ways of tackling the nation’s escalating rates of obesity. Treating obesity-related conditions such as diabetes, heart disease and arthritis reportedly costs some $147 billion annually.
Speakers at the inaugural event included CDC Director Thomas Frieden, who was quoted as saying that taxing sugary drinks at $.01 per ounce could produce $100 billion to $200 billion over the next decade. “Anything that decreases the availability and increases the cost is likely to be effective. The challenge, I think, is a political one of getting that approved,” he said. Frieden further asserted that average American adults are 23 pounds overweight, consume 250 more calories daily than 10 years ago and that about 120 of those calories are from sugary beverages.
In a related development, CDC issued a report on July 17 that claims the obesity epidemic most adversely affects African-Americans and Hispanics. Of the three groups studied, blacks had the highest rate of obesity at 36 percent, followed by Hispanics at 29 percent, and whites at 24 percent. “Evidence suggests that neighborhoods with large minority populations have fewer chain supermarkets and produce stores and that healthful foods are relatively more expensive than energy-dense foods, especially in minority and low-income neighborhoods,” the report stated. See Reuters; MedPage Today, July 27, 2009.
