Obesity-related diseases US $147 billion a yearObesity-related diseases account for nearly 10 percent of all medical spending in the United States or an estimated $147 billion a year, US researchers said on Monday.They said obese people spend 40 percent more―or 1,429 more per year in healthcare costs than people of normal weight.“It is critical that we take effective steps to contain and reduce the enormous burden of obesity on our nation，”Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told a news conference at a CDCP obesity meeting where the study was presented.“Reversing obesity is not going to be done successfully with individual effort,” Frieden said. “It will be done successfully as a society.”The CDCP outlined 24 new recommendations on how communities can combat obesity in their neighborhoods and schools by encouraging healthier eating and more exercise.“If we fail to take meaningful steps now on prevention of chronic disease like obesity, healthcare costs will continue to spiral out of control，” Harkin said in a statement.
