3 ms·

The US has a significant higher percentage of obese people[1] than the EU countries they combined. Obesity is known to be a significant risk factor for a large

The US has a significant higher percentage of obese people[1] than the EU countries they combined. Obesity is known to be a significant risk factor for a large number of health issues[2]. Eyeballing an average of 25% obesity among the EU countries with the US having 36%, means the US has 44% more obese people per capita. While that doesn't explain all of it, it surely is a significant contributing factor. [1]: https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/obesity-rates-by-country https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/obesity-r... [2]: https://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/effects/index.html https://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/effects/index.html

addicted 3y ago
The U.S. also has a lower life expectancy than these countries. So it’s probably shaving off a few years of the most medically expensive parts of a person’s life.
- magicalhippo 3y ago
  Fair point. So I guess it's highly non-trivial to do a direct comparison without going into the details.
- skeeter2020 3y ago
  Not if those lives are ending due to extreme medical conditions. From a costing perspective there's not a big difference if you spend the last 5 years of your life in critical care at age 72 vs. 85
ivan_gammel 3y ago
Obesity is a failure of preventive healthcare - more like a consequence than a cause of inefficiency, lower coverage and higher spending. And prevention doesn’t start at doctor‘s office.
- skeeter2020 3y ago
  it's also a symptom of extreme poverty. Very few people in the US starve to death but they certainly don't get healthy diets, the capacity to exercise and the education & access needed to control obesity.
bigfudge 3y ago
Reducing obesity is part of our public health goals in Europe though, so the fact we have lower obesity in universal health system countries is likely not entirely an accident.
matwood 3y ago
I think obesity probably explains a lot of the cost difference which is why people are so excited about drugs like Ozempic. It may make financial sense for the government to cover the cost for everyone since it could end up lowering overall healthcare costs by a significant amount.
- ethanbond 3y ago
  Surely food companies will just stand idly by as their revenues drop 20-30% Surely they wouldn’t figure out a way to produce even less nutritious, less satiating, more flavorful (and therefore calorically dense) foods, would they?
  - wholinator2 3y ago
    Well i feel like that's only good up to a point right? We can legislate the extremely unhealthy stuff like we have started already. Public information campaigns are making more and more people vegetarian and vegan or at least some reduced-shit diet, healthy at every size and the fat acceptance movement fell flat on its face and was replaced with the much more healthy imaged body positivity movement. And what are they gonna do, make our chips literally dripping in bacon grease? Honestly might be better for us than the insane amounts of sugar they put in things these days. I hesitate to say this but, how much worse can it really get?
    - ethanbond 3y ago
      With hundreds of billions of dollars per year on the line? I’m certainly open to arguments as to how it can’t get worse, but that’s a pretty obscene incentive to make it worse.
    - Jensson 3y ago
      Removing food stamps and just giving people money instead is a good start. Poor people without food stamps are healthier than poor people with food stamps, so I don't see any reason to keep that system, it seems to just encourage poor people to buy too much junk food.
  - 3y ago
carlmr 3y ago
How does this compare to European smoking? In Europe there are a lot more smokers than last time I checked in the US. Smoking causes similar health issues as obesity, mainly cardiovascular events. If the US could improve their food, or Europe could get rid of smoking, it would be a big jump in health outcomes for either.
- magicalhippo 3y ago
  I checked for that first, seems roughly equal[1] with some a bit higher, some a bit lower. [1]: https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/smoking-rates-by-country https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/smoking-r...

addicted 3y ago

The U.S. also has a lower life expectancy than these countries. So it’s probably shaving off a few years of the most medically expensive parts of a person’s life.

magicalhippo 3y ago
Fair point. So I guess it's highly non-trivial to do a direct comparison without going into the details.
skeeter2020 3y ago
Not if those lives are ending due to extreme medical conditions. From a costing perspective there's not a big difference if you spend the last 5 years of your life in critical care at age 72 vs. 85

ivan_gammel 3y ago

Obesity is a failure of preventive healthcare - more like a consequence than a cause of inefficiency, lower coverage and higher spending. And prevention doesn’t start at doctor‘s office.

skeeter2020 3y ago
it's also a symptom of extreme poverty. Very few people in the US starve to death but they certainly don't get healthy diets, the capacity to exercise and the education & access needed to control obesity.

bigfudge 3y ago

Reducing obesity is part of our public health goals in Europe though, so the fact we have lower obesity in universal health system countries is likely not entirely an accident.

matwood 3y ago

I think obesity probably explains a lot of the cost difference which is why people are so excited about drugs like Ozempic. It may make financial sense for the government to cover the cost for everyone since it could end up lowering overall healthcare costs by a significant amount.

ethanbond 3y ago
Surely food companies will just stand idly by as their revenues drop 20-30% Surely they wouldn’t figure out a way to produce even less nutritious, less satiating, more flavorful (and therefore calorically dense) foods, would they?
- wholinator2 3y ago
  Well i feel like that's only good up to a point right? We can legislate the extremely unhealthy stuff like we have started already. Public information campaigns are making more and more people vegetarian and vegan or at least some reduced-shit diet, healthy at every size and the fat acceptance movement fell flat on its face and was replaced with the much more healthy imaged body positivity movement. And what are they gonna do, make our chips literally dripping in bacon grease? Honestly might be better for us than the insane amounts of sugar they put in things these days. I hesitate to say this but, how much worse can it really get?
  - ethanbond 3y ago
    With hundreds of billions of dollars per year on the line? I’m certainly open to arguments as to how it can’t get worse, but that’s a pretty obscene incentive to make it worse.
  - Jensson 3y ago
    Removing food stamps and just giving people money instead is a good start. Poor people without food stamps are healthier than poor people with food stamps, so I don't see any reason to keep that system, it seems to just encourage poor people to buy too much junk food.
- 3y ago

carlmr 3y ago

How does this compare to European smoking? In Europe there are a lot more smokers than last time I checked in the US. Smoking causes similar health issues as obesity, mainly cardiovascular events. If the US could improve their food, or Europe could get rid of smoking, it would be a big jump in health outcomes for either.

magicalhippo 3y ago
I checked for that first, seems roughly equal[1] with some a bit higher, some a bit lower. [1]: https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/smoking-rates-by-country https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/smoking-r...