Saturday, June 9, 2007
The Buffalo News (Related) Buffalo.com (Related) Cars (Related) Homes (Related) Jobs (Related) Apartments (Related) Classifieds (Related)Sources: Merrill Lynch; Thomson Financial
Updated: 06/08/07 6:51 AM
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It may not be fair to blame the surge in obesity on companies such as fast-food makers. But it has fueled their success. Since 1980, long before Go Active! adult Happy Meals, McDonald’s stock has performed 30 times better than the Standard & Poor’s 500 index. Now, with 400 million obese people worldwide, corporations are working to address the problem—and profit. “There’s a tremendous opportunity for these companies to step up and do the right thing,” says Jose Rasco, an investment strategist at Merrill Lynch.
As nations prosper, people move to cities, where they become sedentary and gain weight, Rasco says. In the United States, obesity-related medical costs totaled $47.5 billion in 1998, 5.5 percent of healthcare spending. They could account for 20 percent by 2020, says a RAND study. Americans spend $300 million a year on weight loss-drugs, $15 billion on health clubs, and $3.5 billion on medical devices and surgery, says Eric Finkelstein, a researcher at think tank RTI International.
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