It is actually pretty amazing how many times the alarms have sounded, just because some mathematicians practiced their trade and said, “Hey! What’s going on here?” Time and time again, experts have tried to get people to open their eyes and check their pocketbooks to see if what these highly educated individuals were saying made any sense. Why? Because the experts were saying things like, “Americans are doomed.”
Experts with advanced degrees and extensive experience in several fields, employed by universities and think tanks and medical institutions, and the government, to mention a few, have done their darnedest to try and make the public listen. Obesity is a very, very expensive condition, and the more assiduously the logisticians examine the problem, the more frightening it becomes… to anyone who is paying attention, anyway — which seems to be a vanishingly small number of folks.
Easy to ignore
Many Americans dismiss these warnings as “much ado about nothing,” but even into their resistant minds, it seems like some shards of light ought to have penetrated by now. Quite understandably, many patriots who love and praise the ideal of individual freedom have suggested that people should be left alone to pursue happiness in their own preferred manner, even if and when this includes a self-destructive lifestyle that also costs society a pretty penny.
This mindset does make a certain amount of sense, in a way. Of course an American should be allowed to eat whatever she or he prefers. On the other hand, we have rejected total acceptance of the doctrine that anyone should be allowed to drink whatever they want, whenever they want. Most jurisdictions within the United States have set age limits on who can buy, possess, and legally consume alcohol. So there actually is a rough consensus, in most states and cities, to the effect that rights are not without limits.
In fact, the law goes further, and is perfectly willing and able to prosecute people whose alcohol use brings harm to other Americans, or even just to themselves. Of course, many people experience inner conflict about this. Returning to the destruction that can be caused by careless, unheeding consumption of food — millions of Americans, whether volunteers or draftees, have fought and died for the cherished ideal of freedom.
Wakeup call?
But then, at a certain point, officials spoke up to say, “Attention! It appears that because of an epidemic of obesity, not enough Americans are fit enough to qualify to belong to the same military that is in charge of preserving our freedom.” What a paradox. What a debacle.
These are only two of the many strands that weave the tapestry of body weight disaster in our country… and nobody has finished talking about the subject. Earlier this week, Newsweek.com published ” ‘Extremely Severe’ Obesity on the Rise in US Children — Study” by Hollie Silverman. The journalist reports that…
Extremely severe obesity among American children has increased more than threefold over the past 15 years, with new research published on the JAMA Network, highlighting disturbing trends in prevalence and related health complications.
People between the ages 2 and 18 (in other words, the entirety of America’s youth) are busily increasing their obesity rates more efficiently than any other demographic. Analysis of 15 years worth of research has revealed a dismal picture. The study’s four authors use the expression “public health emergency” and also the phrase “urgent need for public health interventions against pediatric obesity.”
Silverman writes,
The sharp upswing in extremely severe obesity among children raises the risk of developing serious medical conditions — including type 2 diabetes, steatotic liver disease, also known as fatty liver disease (MASLD), metabolic syndrome, and cardiovascular disease.
And what have we been saying? Exactly — that the urgent need for public health intervention, caused by the aforementioned sharp upswing, comes at an enormous cost. Putting aside the drastically traumatic effects on the children and youth involved… and leaving aside the frustration and rejection and numerous other negative emotions experienced by these kids… and ignoring for a moment the immense physical suffering experienced by victims of the above-named diseases… all of this is horrendously expensive in sheer financial terms.
Okay, let’s get back to talking dollars:
In 2024, the CDC estimated the annual medical cost of childhood obesity at $1.3 billion…
Your responses and feedback are welcome!
Source: “’Extremely Severe’ Obesity on the Rise in US Children—Study,” Newsweek.com, 07/20/25
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