Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Obesity can Cost Women More than Men

Just saw in today's paper that there are additional costs to being obese. The average person would assume that there are health care costs and everyday living costs that would be higher. What I found surprising is that it is more expensive to be an obese women than to be an obese men. The annual cost of being obese is $4,879 for women and $2,646 for men. The researchers included lots of data including sick days, loss of productivity and even cost of additional gasoline!

So, why is the gap so high between men and women? Because thinner women make more money than heavier women; whereas there is no difference in earning potential between obese men and thinner men. So heavy women are treated differently, but heavy men are not? Wow!

Just another reason why we should all pay more attention to our health and specifically our weight.

Source: The Columbus Dispatch, Tuesday, September 21.

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