No sweet relief for lovers of junk
STAYING alive comes at a cost for overweight people. They spend more on medical bills.
About 60% of South African women and 30% of men are overweight or obese, according to the Discovery Vitality ObeCity Index.
The index’s latest survey was done in 2014.
It said overweight people spent 30% more on medical bills, compared with those of a normal weight.
“These costs doubled, the more severe the obesity,” it said.
Severe obesity increased healthcare expenditure by R4 425 a person, split between inpatient and outpatient care, Discovery said.
The survey showed that the rise of fast-food franchises contributed to the problem.
It said one in two adults visited KFC every month. This came to about 17 million people buying food there. Burger King was also a cause for concern for the healthcare experts.
Dietitian Yolandé van der Riet, a consultant at FTI Consulting, said that with or without medical conditions, obesity had health implications.
“One can safely assume that obesity may contribute to an array of chronic lifestyle conditions, each with their respective expenses and negative impacts,” she said.
Obesity has a likely role in Type 2 diabetes, chronic heart conditions, high blood pres- sure, pressure on the joints and osteoarthritis, types of cancer and difficulty with physical functioning, said Van der Riet.
People between the ages of 30 and 70 were at the highest risk for noncommunicable diseases, according to Discovery Vitality.
The probability of dying from one of the major noncommunicable diseases was 27%. However, whether a sugar tax would help reduce these numbers was unclear.
“The main reason why sweetened beverages are linked to a risk for obesity is that people generally do not eat less to make up for the additional calories they drink,” the company said.
Van der Riet said a sugar tax might “fail to change behaviour”.
It remained contentious. “The verdict remains unclear,” Van der Riet said.
People don’t eat less to make up for drinking extra calories