Comp Skills for Economic Analysis E226

Why is the Diet Pill Industry Booming, but much of the American population still overweight or obese?

Adam A. Ghiloni

10-13-2006

Comp Skills for Economic Analysis E226

With over half of the American population overweight or obese they are looking for a way to be healthy and in shape. The American people have turned to the quick fix diet pill, 20 min no sweet workout plan, or eat what you want without having to exercise. Companies, dietitians, and personal trainers have jumped on the bandwagon to help the “laziness” of Americans become healthy and get in shape without having to do the “hard” work.

The obesity and overweight epidemic are on the minds of millions of Americans. Many people have gone to the diet pill and get skinny quick, such as the 5 min abs. This industry is currently booming and doing very well, with a 23 billion dollar a year industry. First we must look at how being obese or overweight is calculated and what part of the American population is overweight or obese. Then what many of the health consequences are of being overweight or obese is. What the diet pill and exercise industry has done to promote being skinny.

The main determination of overweight and obesity is Body Mass Index (BMI). To calculate Bony Mass Index, BMI=weight (lbs) x 703/(height2 (in)). According to a study from George Washington University 67% of males are overweight or obese while 62% of females are overweight or obese. (george Washington university). Being overweight or obese has much to do with your education level, family income, age, and ethnicity. Below are statistics of obesity and overweight broken down by these different categories.

Below is the percent of people obese based on education level. It shows that with more education the more knowledgeable you become and have a higher value on your life and more time and money put into making your life successful. Because of higher education, one is more informed on and aware of the risks that come with being overweight and obese.

Figure 1: Education Level

Below is the chart divided up per age groups. This chart shows that with age it is harder to keep your Body Mass Index under control, but the ones who do live longer, considering that there is a remarkably less amount of obese people > 70 years old from people who are 60 – 69 years old, have a much healthier attitude toward life and their body.

Figure 2: Age Group

The below chart shows the prevalence of men and women by age from 1988 – 2002. With this graph we can conclude that men are heavier women with the older you get the heavier you become up to a point in which the healthy survive longer. This is much like the concept of Marginal Product, where with age your body mass index slightly increases with age up until a point where the unhealthy start to pass away and the health concusses stay alive much longer.

Figure 3: Prevalence Rates of Overweight Individuals BMI >25

The graph below shows the prevalence of obesity compared to men and women. This chart proves to show the same as the previous chart, but with people who are obese instead of overweight.

Figure 4: Prevalence Rates of Obesity Compared to Men and Women

The chart below gives the break down of race compared to the percent obese per year. Showing that African Americans are the most obese ethnicity in the United States followed by Hispanics.

Figure 5: Race, ethnicity

Obesity is based very much on the income of a family, which is shown below. With a high level of income there is enough money to buy the more healthy foods to be able to stay in shape. Those that are at a poverty level of income are not over weight because they do not even have enough money to buy the unhealthy foods and cannot even feed themselves. It is the lower-middle class that has the largest percent of overweight and obese people because they do not have the money to spend on healthy food and can only buy the cheaper unhealthy foods.

Family Income
< 18 yrs old / Underweight / Healthy weight / Overweight / Obese
< $20,000 / 37,900 / 1,003 / 14,892 / 11,438 / 9,006
$20,000 or more / 153,696 / 2,655 / 58,795 / 53,996 / 32,723
$20,000-$34,999 / 29,716 / 553 / 11,066 / 10,370 / 6,873
$35,000-$54,999 / 33,065 / 473 / 12,229 / 11,536 / 8,023
$55,000-$74,999 / 23,293 / 370 / 8,734 / 8,349 / 5,300
$75,000 or more / 29,386 / 640 / 16,091 / 14,607 / 7,083
Number in Thousands
Poverty Status
< 18 yrs old / Underweight / Healthy weight / Overweight / Obese
Poor / 16,612 / 439 / 6,547 / 4,762 / 4,317
Near Poor / 26,456 / 612 / 10,085 / 8,734 / 6,150
Not Poor / 111,947 / 1,788 / 43,100 / 40,360 / 24,014
Number in Thousands

With all of this information it can be hard to comprehend what all the data is trying to tell us. On average the most overweight or obese members of the American society are African American males who have a high school level education or less, with an average family income of around 20,000 dollars, and are between the ages of 50 – 59. Now that we know who the mostly obese members of society are we need to look at the question of why that is.

Many African Americans live in over crowded urban communities with poor education systems. Many males must drop out of school to find a low level job to help feed himself and his immediate family. Without a good education it is hard to find a good, well paying job. Thus making it hard to increase your income to buy healthy food, which tends to be much higher priced than fatty high cholesterol foods. The reason that the level of income is around $20,000 and not less is because people with that low of an income cannot even afford to feed themselves and are malnourished People with a much higher income can afford to eat much more healthy. It is the low middle class that cannot afford it and must then eat fast food much more often to try to save money. Leading into a never ending cycle of becoming fatter and fatter, and not being able to take care of their self. The age of people who are the most overweight and obese happen because as a young person your metabolism is still high and eating unhealthy has not yet caught up to you. And it is then when you can no longer eat whatever you please and stay skinny.

These people of society fall behind and without the support of the surrounding communities and federal government stay behind and can never get out pushing themselves and their children into a never-ending whirlwind cycle.

Although the largest amount of people are African American males, the Diet pill industry is doing so well because of High School and College age females. Many of these girls feel the need to be perfectly thin, due to the Hollywood ideal of a “perfect woman.”

The diet pill industry is a 23 billion dollar a year industry and growing everyday, but why are the numbers of overweight and obese people growing every year. The advertising campaign has done an excellent job at getting into the minds of American people to make themselves believe that they really need to take these alternate supplements. Even with studies by the government proving that many of these supplements do not work, but people are still spending money every week for these pills that don’t work. Carl Haupt says “I wouldn’t quit taking it again. I learned my lesson. (MSNBC). “In 2004 Americans have spent an estimated 46 billion dollars on diet products and self-help books.” (10 diets that help you lose pounds and money) Many companies such as Bally Total Fitness, Gold’s Gym and Lifetime Fitness charge outrageous monthly fees to workout. Or you have Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, or eDiets. The money that is spent on these weight loss companies by Americans is mostly wasted, even though many people have lost weight with these programs studies show that two-thirds of U.S. dieters regained all the weight they have lost within one year, and within five years 97 percent of all people regained the weight that they lost. (10 diets that help you lose pounds and money)