This is what’s so wrong with America and it’s starting here too. Corporate USA makes vast profits from high calorie, low nutrition food, then pharmaceutical firms profit from medications to control diabetes and other junk food related health problems, and all sorts of scams have developed around weight loss supplements. People need to think about what they put in their stomachs, and not glorify programmes like Man V Food. It’s a very sick world in so many ways….

Agree with that. Basically, if you are anti the nanny state then you have got to be pro paying for the risks you take?

Sugary drinks are not a fatty food!! They are a sugary/ carb loaded food. We have to stop this association with fat (obesity) and fatty foods (avocados, olives etc..). It’s not the fatty foods that are causing obesity it’s the high sugar, poor carb options. People need fats to live.. Not sugary carbs!

I think it’s very easy to view obesity as a lifestyle choice or a decision that people make for themselves. Ok, to an extent it is, but we should also try to be aware of other factors. There is a flood of so-called healthy or diet food out there which is pushed by a massive marketing budget, examples being low fat food that is high in either sugar or sugar substitutes, which creates craving for more food. I also think that many people (and until about 5 years ago, I’d have included myself in this) lack knowledge about basic nutrition, such as portion sizes and how different food types affect the human body. Education is the way to cure obesity, as it empowers the consumer, not banning products or adding a tax on them.

Theoretically I would be all for this , but in order to encourage healthier eating profits going from a fat / sugar tax should go to subsidising healthier foods , often more expensive , which of course it won’t . As a result all that will happen is that the price of food will go up raising inflation and the ones eating the unhealthy food will continue to do so . It will have to e a little more nuanced than just a fat tax

People need to realise that the food industry is just that: an industry. It can only maximise its profits if we consume more of its products. This also goes for the health food industry ( who tend to grossly over-exaggerate the benefits of their products: the healthier a food appears – the more sales).
Remember when it was 3 square meals a day? Now we have Elevenises, “beat the 3pm slump”, after dinner snacks. The breakfast cereal industry telling us that breakfast is the most important meal of the day ( true for kids concentration but not for teens or adults). It’s all marketing, inventing new reasons to eat. Constant eating puts your body in an anabolic state, which is unhealthy after your mid twenties.

A 2008 study in Holland compared the lifetime medical costs of healthy people to obese people and to smokers. It found that the average lifetime cost of healthcare for healthy people was higher than those of both smokers and obese people due to a decreased life expectancy of the latter two.

http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pmed.0050029

So claiming that you should pay for your lifestyle is all very good until you actually look at the figures which show that healthy people should be paying more to support their extended life. While reducing obesity and smoking is a good thing to aim for, it will only improve quality of life and is not an equitable way to make the finances balance.

If people want free or subsidised health care then they must be made responsible for taking care of their health, failing which the system will continue to be hopelessly abused. My only concern is the misinformation we get about food and the stupidity of a State that wished to ban advertising cheese! Also, remember that silly fad that said eggs were bad for cholesterol? Cheese, healthy fats and fresh meat in healthy quantities is essential for good health and prevents many diseases. Sugar and processed meats and carbohydrates should be taxed to the hilt to pay for the damage they cause as they wreck havoc with the body and result in many diseases requiring long term and expensive care, diabetes being just one example.

Bringing fat into it via a story about soft drinks is…odd. Whatever they are, they are not fatty. But anyway, this article is NOT about fat, or sugar, or obesity, or health or even whether those who make poor decisions (stand up anyone who never made a poor decision…) should pay.

No, not about any of those. This article is about normalising the notion that our health system should be privitised, that we should all be forced to buy health insurance, which would, of course, be provided by private for-profit companies. This idea appalls me, it horrifies me. It genuinely makes me glad I am not young so I probably won’t live to see the full horror it wreaks on people’s lives. I don’t think I am alone in this view.

You don’t see this total shift in the way we provide health care discussed often enough – what you DO see is articles like this – which slip the idea in and try to normalise it while ostensibly discussing something else that will get people all riled up in righteous indignation.

So, you are happy to see smokers, fat people etc have to pay more, right? What about people who’s jobs are risky (after all they could work at something else)? Or people who drive a lot, or drive fast (after all they could take the bus, or the trina)? What about people with disabilities (After all…. oh, wait, no)? These people also ‘cost’ more – when do you decide that these scroungers should pay more? At what point is someone too fat, too brave, too disabled to be a normal insurance risk? Who decides?

If people want to eat, drink or smoke themselves to death, let them go ahead – they are expressing that which makes us human – individual freedom. Winston Churchill ate, smoked and drank too much. Adolf Hitler had none of these vices.

public health management is a good thing. nudging people towards making better decisions by pricing incentives makes sense… obese people aren’t just “lazy and greedy”, they’re living with the consequences of modern. financial incentives to change our behaviors is something we should embrace.

It’s all well and good saying its a choice , and people choose to consume these foods…. But it’s not an ‘educated’ choice. People aren’t educated about the dangers of foods, and develop food addictions. Not to mention we are inundated with conflicting ideologies of “healthy eating” .

If Bloomberg had real concerns hed ban drinks with artificial sweeteners like aspartame which are doing far greater damage to ppls health causing tumours and cancer

The article mentions the costs of obesity among the healthy population. I think, likewise with smoking, there may be net benefits. Obese people have increased risk of dying sooner which means in many cases they don’t take out their pensions and the exchequer profits. Same goes for smoking. Obviously there is a moral question but in terms of monetary costs I’m not sure they exceed monetary benefits.

Obese people = greedy and lazy, solution stop eating shit and do some exercise quit moaning about it!

So you acknowledge that there is a serious problem, yet the solution you suggest is to allow people to continue to add fuel to the fire and make the situation worse as long as they don’t harm anyone and they can afford it? This is obviously the wrong idea, just by looking at the current state that the U.S. finds itself in is a strong indication of where it is going, this has to change, regardless of whether someone likes the idea or not. Also people who are obese are harming someone and that is themselves, the rise in diabetes and other health related issues from eating unhealthy food is something people cannot continue to ignore.

People have been given the chance to choose what they want, and even in light of all of the evidence that consuming such a large amount of unhealthy food is bad for you, they still do it anyway, these people are not unlike spoilt children, always getting what they want, regardless of the consequences.

Obesity is getting to be an epidemic in America, there is no denying this fact, there should be a ban on advertisements from all of the major producers of food and drinks that cause obesity, there should also be an extra tax added onto every purchase of carbonated drinks and fat foods, this tax should then go to increasing awareness of the dangers of consuming unhealthy food and drinks, carbonated drinks and fat foods should also be banned altogether in schools.

America now has a choice, it can either continue to ignore the problem and allow it to get worse, or it can face up to reality and do what is necessary.

I think people are well aware these days of the health consequences associated with eating such food products. People should not be denied the liberty of eating foods that may be detrimental to their health if they enjoy doing so. There is a tradeoff between happiness now and future health but I think there are a lot of people that want to live a little while they’re here. They are well informed to make that choice

“Rich and largely sedentary populations combined with easy access to cheap, calorific food is having a visible impact on waistlines and health spending in many countries.”

“Unfortunately, when it comes to ‘affording’ the vice of gluttony it’s not so clear cut.”

“I believe in the right to gorge oneself to excess if that is your preferred pastime.”

“…but people who are obese and overweight will no longer pay extra for their gluttony.”

Those quotes above betray a complete lack of understanding by the author of this article of the causes of obesity. The first one especially, as it assumes that obesity is a result of prosperity. In fact, obesity affects poor people much more disproportionally. I don’t blame Aaron McKenna for his ignorance, given that views like these are so prevalent. Have a quick look through the comments this article has elicited throughout the day and you’ll see much of the same – fat people are lazy gluttons and are undeserving of our sympathy or support.

Imagine for a moment that we’re not talking about obesity, but about household budgeting. Many, many people in this country are having severe difficulty managing their household budgets and simply cannot make ends meet. No matter what they do to trim spending or raise additional income, the numbers just don’t add up. How useful do you think it would be if they were told by “experts” that all they had to do was to make sure that they spent less than they earned, and if they failed to do so, they were simply lazy spendthrifts? That would be grossly insulting, and a complete over-simplification of the problems they face. They know well that income and expenditure don’t match, and don’t need anyone to tell them that. There is no exploration as to the cause of this deficit, such as a lost job, or unforeseen expenses.

But that is exactly what obese people face every day. If only they stopped stuffing their faces with lard and got off their fat arses for a bit of exercise every now and then, they’d be grand! This message is distilled down into a four word mantra – “Eat less, move more.”

But like the family budgeting scenario, this is an over-simplification of the problem. Yes, obese people consume more calories than they expend, but it doesn’t explain why they do. The given assumption is that it is because the obese person is making a wilful choice to do so, or is so stupid that they don’t realize the damage they are doing themselves.

Animals in general (humans included) have a fairly reliable inbuilt system for regulating body fat. The first law of thermodynamics applies to a greater or lesser degree. We consume the calories we need in our food to keep ourselves going. When it works, it’s great, and we don’t have to think about it. There are people who stay the same weight their entire adult lives. Do they dutifully count calories in and out? Do they hell! Their bodies have the necessary weight management regulation working perfectly, and it barely occupies a thought.

For those of us who aren’t so fortunate, obesity is a risk. Most of us will have been overweight at some point. You don’t notice it at first. It’s only when you try to squeeze into something that fitted six months ago, or you see a photo of yourself from five years ago when you realize you have a problem. You don’t know you have a problem till you have a problem. So you try to lose weight. You go the standard calories out minus calories in equals weight-loss route. You starve yourself for weeks on end and subject yourself to a punishing exercise routine, and at the end of it you lose a few pounds. Great! Everyone says you’re looking great and fair play to you. You gradually slip back into your old habits and everything you lost comes back with interest added.

If we are to get a proper understanding of how weight gain and loss is regulated in the body, we need to become familiar with two hormones, insulin and leptin. Insulin is the hormone that controls what gets stored in our fat cells and what gets used as fuel. Leptin is the hormone that tells us we’ve had enough to eat. If either or both of these are out of kilter, we’re at risk of weight gain. We also need to get a grip on sugar, because it is this, and not dietary fat that does the damage.

If we consume too much sugar, we stimulate insulin production. This can lead to the sugar being converted to fat and being stored in our fat cells. Over a period of time, a repeat of this can lead to insulin resistance, where sugar from any carbohydrate source can trigger this reaction off. You don’t necessarily have to have a sweet tooth for this to happen. Look at the sugar content of what you eat – you’ll be shocked. Fruit juice, sauces, “healthy” breakfast bars, foods advertised as “low-fat”, etc. If you’re insulin-resistant, almost any carbohydrate will kick it off and you will gain weight.

Some sugars, fructose especially, can inhibit leptin, which means that we don’t get the signal to stop eating when we should. When we’re hungry, food is irresistible. My late grandmother used to say “Hunger is a great sauce.” But once our appetite is sated, leptin kicks in and tells us to shut up shop. The food is no less tasty, but our desire to consume it is gone. If there is a problem with leptin, we may not get that signal, and our brains will tell us that we are still hungry. If the food is still there, it is very difficult not to eat it.

So here’s my advice – it’s not “Eat less, move more.” In fact, initially, I advise something quite sedentary – read. Do some research. Read the work of people like Gary Taubes, John Briffa and Robert Lustig. Get a deeper understanding of why obesity (and its horsemen – diabetes and cardiovascular disease) happens. Conventional wisdom suggests we should first address the volume of food intake. However, if we first address the quality of food intake, the quantity will look after itself.

Conventional weight-loss theory is wedded to the simplistic notion that the patient is to blame for their own predicament. Would it be acceptable to say that anorexia or bulimia sufferers would be OK if they only ate a good dinner and stopped sticking their fingers down their throats? Of course not. Obesity is a complex problem that requires a well researched solution. It’s only 40 years since it became a major problem. What happened back then? We were suddenly told to eat a low-fat diet, and high-fructose corn syrup (or glucose-fructose syrup as it’s known on this side of the Atlantic) made its way into our diets.

Have to say that this is great news, people have to stop blaming others and look at themselves. It’s too easy to blame the industry! It’s about balanced lifestyle…..you take in more calories than you use then you put on weight. Seems that fast food companies, soft drinks companies and now dairy companies are getting a rough deal with scare mongering from the media and now cash starved governments desperate for revenue looking for “the magic tax” that seems to show like they care. It has to go back to the consumer.

Ah, the good old “We are only adding tax to this for your own good” argument!

why not close down all d shops dat sell these fatty foods and all d factories and bakeries dat make dem and give us our meals in tablet form and wash dis down with water only.yummy and problem solved.no more fat issues or risk to health.

Personally i feel that people need to be fully educated from a young age about the risks associated with “junk food”.Either advertising of them should be banned or proper health warnings should come with it like what happened with the tobacco industry.
Mc Donalds have revolutionised the way americans eat and we are following suit.

I’m trying to imagine carrying around a 2 litre drink. I know obviously it becomes lighter as you drink it but 2 litres is heavy! And I wonder do they fit in their car cup holders?

Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York banned

- Trans Fats in supermarket products and
- may ban Trans Fats in all 22,000 restaurants and fast food outlets in New York.

Denmark banned Trans Fats in 2006 and McDonalds complied in that country.

I stopped eating Trans Fats and reversed my Diabetes Type 2 ……. Brilliant New York!

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Wrote an 8 page eBooklet on how I did it. : amazon.com/dp/B00A8S25ZW
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@WalnutCure – Hope it helps.
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Obesity may be linked to Trans Fats ….. however, no scientific consensus.

Aaron, a “socialist paradise”. Oh how I wish!!!

Well if people can’t control themselves maybe the nanny state has to just saying …

He’s hinting that you’re going to lose your healthcare system. He wants to end subsidies for health. Did he mention that Ireland has the lowest corporate tax rate in Europe? He didn’t? Well, maybe he should.

Thumbs down?? Why am not surprised ? So will you be moaning when you are asked to cough up for all them free gastric bypass operations these greedy hogs get from the HSE??