If obesity in the US is considered to be in 40% of the population, and 70% are overweight then there would seem to be a problem. As well as a propensity for comorbidities and general poor health throughout the majority of the population.
The US spends twice as much of its GDP on ‘health care’ than the average country in the OECD. Yet the U.S. ranks last in a measure of health care access and quality, indicating higher rates of amenable mortality than peer countries. As rates of all-cause mortality, maternal mortality, and years of life lost have stagnated or increased over time, the gap has widened between the U.S. health system and those of its peers. This is a major cause for concern in terms of monopolizing resources in hospitals and the limited availability of hospital beds. It would seem other countries, such as Australia, are following their footsteps.
There seems to be a belief that more pharmaceutical drugs is the answer to the problem. Yet there already are clinical trials that reveal lifestyle changes as being superior to drugs in some instances. One very relevant example shows that for diabetes and pre-diabetes, lifestyle changes produce better outcomes than metformin.
We now are beginning to experience across many countries, for the first time in history, the concept of mandates for the benefit of everyone’s health, to reduce illness, and free up limited resources.
My logic indicates that such a ‘band-aid’ approach of knee-jerk reactions is missing the ‘elephant in the room’. It is not okay to continue to have overweight, unhealthy populations which unfairly draw on limited healthcare resources and drive up costs for everyone else.
To address the real root causes of poor health we should be implementing mandates for people to implement health-focused lifestyle changes, such as exercise regularly, stay away from junk food, and follow nutritionally rich diets, and more.
Just an observation!
