Week 10 Assignment: Costs of Obesity
Purpose
The purpose of this assignment is to compare and contrast industry incomes and advertising budgets with the personal costs of obesity and budget for obesity prevention measures.
Directions
Use the following data and the information from the “Cost of Obesity in America” video to complete the discussion questions below.
| Industry | $ Annual Revenue |
| Diet/weight loss | 72 billion |
| Fast food restaurants (all combined) | 256 billion |
| Soft drinks | 207 million |
| Snack foods | 67 million |
| Industry | $ Amount Spent on Marketing /Advertising |
| Fast food restaurants (all combined) | 4.6 billion |
| Sugary drinks (all combined) | 5.8 billion |
| All fruit, vegetable, bottled water, and milk advertisers combined | 2 billion |
| Advertising foods and beverages to children | 10 billion
(only 5% of this includes healthy foods) |
| Governmental Agency | $ Annual Budget |
| US Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) | — |
| Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)
|
68 billion |
| Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC)
|
5.75 billion |
| Child Nutrition Programs (National School Lunch Program, School Breakfast Program, Summer Food Service Program, and the Child and Adult Care Food Program)
|
22.5 billion |
| Human Nutrition Research and Education | 161 million |
| Centers for Disease Control and Prevention | — |
| Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity | 57 thousand |
| Type of Health Care | $ Estimated Cost |
| Medications and other treatment related costs
· Type 2 diabetes · Hypertension |
800 – 16,000 per year 700 – 1,000 per year |
| Gastric surgery (cost of one surgery) | 20,000 – 25,000 |
Discussion Questions
- Compare the revenue from food companies with the diet/weight loss industry. What conclusions can you draw from this data?
- Compare the amount of money spent on food and beverage marketing/advertising with the amount spent on government programs that deal with food and health. What impact might the differences have on obesity prevention and treatment?
- Compare the amount of money spent on marketing/advertising fast food and sugary drinks to the amount spent on all fruit, vegetable, bottled water, and milk advertisers combined. What impact might the differences have on obesity and health in general?
- How might the amount of money spent on marketing food to children impact childhood obesity rates?
- Do you think knowing the costs of medications, medical bills, and possibly gastric surgery would deter someone from becoming obese?
- The “Cost of Obesity in America” video gave examples of several ways that obesity increases costs (transportation, food, clothing, and medical bills). Come up with at least two additional ways that obesity would increase costs, either to society or the individual.
Submission Instructions
Submit your answers in the assignment submission area located in the weekly content area. All documents must be in either .doc, .docx. or PDF formats in order to be graded.
Grading Criteria
This assignment is worth 25 points. Refer to the course’s assignment rubric to review grading expectations.
