For those of us who love fast food, ignore its ostensibly negative health consequences, and go so far as to “super- size” the meals we are served, another way of approaching the matter is long overdue. There are some people who likely ignore all the health food talk. So, if it isn’t the threat of diabetes or heart disease that will sway people off big servings of fast food, perhaps the financial toll will get people to stop supersizing their meals.
That’s right, those “deals” they claim you get when you supersize your meal are not a bargain after all — if you take a sort of backward approach to the idea. A group of researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison did. They found there was no deal in supersizing a meal once you factor in the inherent costs of weight gain.
This was an interesting project. They found that the typical “upsized” fast-food meal costs just $0.67 more than a regular meal. That’s what grabs hungry consumers: “Well, why not?” they say. But the calories you get for that $0.67 actually translate into higher daily expenses because of the weight you gain.
For those of you who love fast food, consider your wallet for a moment. The researchers say that weight gain equals higher grocery bills, health-care costs, and even — wait for it — gasoline prices. All of these exceed the net worth of opting for an upsized meal. The study is published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition. Here’s what the researchers calculated:
– Every “value” meal costs an adult $0.05 more in fuel expenses because heavier passengers make a car less efficient.
– Each of these meals translates into $0.35 more in food costs for that adult. The heavier a person is, the more calories he/she needs.
– But health care is the big hitter here. Each of these meals increases the amount of money a person pays for health care — anywhere from $0.82 to a whopping $6.64. That’s because the more a person weighs, the more health issues arise, which require medication and visits to the doctor.
These combine to make an upsized value meal have absolutely no value at all. The researchers chose this different path — a financial one — to try and dissuade U.S. adults from frequenting fast food outlets. The industry has long been accused of contributing to the obesity epidemic by making cheap food grossly unhealthy. This is another way to look at the costs of weight gain, so to speak.
That $0.67 worth of extra food nets you 400 extra calories. For every 100 calories you eat beyond what your body needs, your personal price of food, health care, and petroleum rises by at least $0.48 to $2.00. If there was ever a hidden cost, this is it.
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Tags: heart disease, obesity
