BEIJING, Jan. 23 (Xinhuanet) -- While health officials warn obesity is becoming America's No. 1 killer, economists have been pondering which corporations and industries benefit in the so-called Fat Economy.

"The obesity problem is really a side effect of things that are good for the economy," said Tomas J. Philipson, an economics professor who studies obesity at the University of Chicago.

    With about two-thirds of Americans now considered overweight, the country's problem with bulging waistlines has reached pandemic proportions, according to federal health officials.

    Economists say that changes in food technology (producing tasty, easy-to-cook food), changes in labor (Americans used to be paid to exercise at work, now they pay to exercise after work) and women's importance in the workforce, not the kitchen, have combined to produce industries that are able to cheaply and efficiently meet the demands of Americans' busy lives.

    According to consumer-research firm Mintel Group, Americans spent $37 billion on carbonated beverages and $3.9 billion on cookies in 2004. The same year, potato chip sales hit $6.2 billion. In 2003, Americans splurged $57.2 billion on meals at restaurants such as Denny's, Chili's and Outback Steakhouse. 

    "Put simply, there is a lot of money being made, and to be made, in feeding both oversized stomachs and feeding those enterprises selling fixes for oversized stomachs," William L. Weis, a management professor at Seattle University, wrote in 2005 in the Academy of Health Care Management Journal. "And both industries -- those selling junk food and those selling fat cures -- depend for their future on a prevalence of obesity."

    Weis says revenue from the "obesity industries" will likely top $315 billion this year, and perhaps far more. That includes $133.7 billion for fast-food restaurants, $124.7 billion for medical treatments related to obesity, and $1.8 billion just for diet books -- all told, nearly 3 percent of the overall U.S. economy.

    "The obesity problem is really a side effect of things that are good for the economy," said Tomas J. Philipson, an economics professor who studies obesity at the University of Chicago. Chicago was recently named the fattest in America.

    In some ways, Americans are better off in this Fat Economy. Many work in offices in buildings with elevators. Women don't have to spend two hours preparing dinner every night. Flat-panel plasma TVs hang over fireplaces, which can be lit using the same remote control for flipping channels. But the unintended consequence of these economic changes is that many people have become fat.

    The overall long-term economic costs of obesity are many. The $10,000 of extra medical care that the overweight require over their lifetimes certainly makes a doctor's wallet fatter, but it could bankrupt the health insurance industry. Also, research shows that while more women have entered the workforce, their wages, particularly for white women, sink if they are overweight.

    Much of the long-term financial burden for obesity will fall on the shoulders of U.S. corporations, which already fork out billions of dollars a year in sick time and insurance costs related to obesity illnesses, and on American taxpayers, through their contributions for programs such as Medicare and Medicaid. What's more, shorter lifespans will more quickly take millions of educated people out of the workforce.

    "But we would rather take improvements in technology and agriculture than go back to the way we lived in the 1950s when everyone was thin. Nobody wants to sweat at work for 10 hours a day and be poor. Yes, you're obese, but you have a life that is much more comfortable," Prof. Philipson said. Enditem

    (Agencies)