Q: What is the monetary cost of obesity and its effects?
A: The National Institute of Diabetes & Digestive & Kidney Diseases provides the following statistics regarding the cost of obesity and some of its health consequences:
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Q: What is the cost of overweight and obesity?
- Direct cost: $51.6 billion (5.7 percent of the U.S. health expenditure)
- Indirect cost: $47.6 billion (comparable to the economic costs of cigarette smoking)
A: Total cost: $99.2 billion
Q: What is the cost of heart disease related to overweight and obesity?
A: Direct cost related to overweight and obesity: $6.99 billion (17 percent of the $40.4 billion total direct cost of heart disease, independent of stroke)
Q: What is the cost of type 2 diabetes related to overweight and obesity?
A: Total cost related to overweight and obesity: $63.14 billion (more than 60 percent of the total cost of type 2 diabetes)
Q: What is the cost of osteoarthritis related to overweight and obesity?
A: Total cost related to overweight and obesity: $17.2 billion
Q: What is the cost of hypertension (high blood pressure) related to overweight and obesity?
A: Direct cost related to overweight and obesity: $3.23 billion (17 percent of the total cost of hypertension)
Q: How much do we spend on weight loss products and services?
A: Americans spend $33 billion annually on weight-loss products and services.20 (This figure represents consumer dollars spent in the early 1990s on all efforts at weight loss or weight maintenance including low-calorie foods, artificially sweetened products such as diet sodas, and memberships to commercial weight-loss centers.)
Source: NIDDK Stats Related to Overweight and Obesity: [http://win.niddk.nih.gov/statistics/index.htm]
Original Publication Date: November 24, 2004
Last Updated: November 13, 2005
