“The health care costs attributable to obesity and overweight are expected to more than double every decade. This would account for 15 to 17 percent of total health care costs spent,” Wang says. “Due to the assumptions we made and the limitations of the available data, these figures are likely an underestimation of the true financial impact.”

I simply don't believe that over a period of 50 years, Americans suddenly all became lazy, slothful, self-indulgent, gluttonous hogs. (And I think that believing that this is the case shows a contempt and disdain for one's peers that's quite remarkable.) This is in large part the result of overall systemic forces that keep us inactive and fill our diets with processed, refined, unhealthy foods laden with high-fructose corn syrup.