Did you know: Eating habits directly relate to the rising cost of health care?
Increasing numbers of patients who are challenged by obesity, smoking, drug abuse, poor nutrition and physical inactivity contribute to an increase in the use of, and therefore the cost of, health care services, according to PriceWaterhouseCoopers in its publication, The Factors Fueling Rising Health Care Costs 2008. These preventable risk factors also contribute to chronic diseases, which account for 75% of the money spent on health care in the United States each year, reports Thorpe, et al, in Health Affairs.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 34 percent of adults aged 20 and older are obese and 34 percent are overweight. Among children, 18 percent of teens aged 12 to 19 are obese, 20 percent of children aged 6 to 11 are obese, as are 10 percent of kids aged 2 to 5.
The biggest health problem facing America is not AIDS, or even cancer it’s obesity and a sedentary lifestyle.
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