Obesity and Fuel Economy

Obesity is a growing concern worldwide and especially in the States. In the US, the high rates of oil consumption and obesity have become important socioeconomic concerns. While these concerns may seem unrelated at first, growing obesity rates in the US increase fuel consumption by adding passenger weight to vehicles. The additional amount of fuel consumed annually by noncommercial passenger highway vehicles in the US due to passenger overweight and obesity is significant. It is estimated that as many as one billion additional gallons of gasoline or almost three days of fuel consumption by automobiles are consumed each year due to overweight individuals and obesity in the US. An article written in 2006 asserts that “The trend in this country is that we are getting heavier, and our vehicles are consuming more fuel as a result,” Jacobson said. “The growing obesity problem is a major symptom of our nation’s addiction to oil. We prefer to ride when we should walk.” The obesity problem and the fuel-dependency problem are so related, “we cannot hope to tackle one without also tackling the other,” Jacobson said. And, as he and King point out in their study, the problems are not limited to the United States. “A recent surge in overweight and obesity rates in China correlates with an increased level of automobile ownership,” Jacobson said, “indicating that the issues being faced by the U.S. will become international issues as nations become more affluent.

All in all the world needs to watch its waistline, reduce their conspicuous consumption and use the body they were given. Take a walk, work out, run up those stairs!!!!

Posted by: Mathilde Goldsdchmidt