Published: March 30, 2008 09:26 pm      

Could taxes play part in obesity battle?

ATHENS — Put heavy taxes on big greasy cheeseburgers and potato chips while slashing or even eliminating taxes on whole wheat bread and fresh vegetables? While such a move would certainly be controversial, it does put forth the idea that consumers must change their environment in order to combat obesity.

Dr. Craig Huddy, an associate professor of health education at Concord University, recently presented his research on obesity at St. Anne’s College in Oxford, England. The conference, “Obesity: The Affluent Society,” was convened to bring attention to obesity worldwide.

Huddy’s paper focuses on the obesity epidemic and further focuses on West Virginia, which ranks second in the nation for obesity; Alabama is first and Mississippi is third. Studying obesity and the measures to combat it occupy much of Huddy’s time.

“It’s been almost a lifelong professional interest of mine. My area of teaching and research is chronic disease,” Huddy said. “We are experiencing an epidemic of obesity right now in the United States and many parts of the world.”

How serious a problem is being overweight? Its impact on a person’s health can be deadly.

“To put that into perspective, the thing that kills more people in the United States than any other thing is cigarette smoking,” Huddy said. “The figures are around 400,000 annual deaths due to cigarette smoking. Obesity is closing in on that. There are 300,000 annual deaths due to obesity.”

What is fueling this epidemic? The answer seems straightforward at first.

“It’s not a simple thing,” Huddy said. “But two things are going on. We have people who are eating too much junk food and fast foods, and not getting enough exercise. So of course we’re putting more calories into our bodies that are going out, and this results in weight gain.”

That’s the simple and direct answer to why so many people are obese, but there is more to the situation, he said. It’s important to look at the environment and culture in which this epidemic is occurring.

“We have more fast food places and too many unhealthy school lunches being fed to our kids, so the solution is to somehow change the environment so that it promotes weight loss and the maintenance of a healthy body weight,” Huddy said.

Public health officials have made some suggestions for changing the food environment. The number one idea is to tax high fat junk foods and fast foods the same way cigarettes are taxed, Huddy said.

A second idea is to substantially reduce or eliminate taxes on healthy foods such as whole wheat products and fruits and vegetables, he added. One goal of this tax plan is to make healthy diets more affordable.

Making exercise more accessible is another part of this proposed environment change. Federal and state money could be used for constructing more walking and biking trails that offer relatively easy access, Huddy said.

However, people must be willing to alter their habits, too.

“We can do all of the things that I just said — tax junk foods, lower taxes on healthy foods — but ultimately the burden falls back on the person. You’ve got to be motivated and want to do it, but we can try to make it easier by creating a healthy environment. It’s an attitude, it’s a culture. Until we turn those around and make those supportive of healthy weights, it’s not going to happen,” he said.

“Awareness of choices promotes a healthier society. People would be living longer, happier lives and people wouldn’t have to worry about their loved ones dying form obesity if awareness of the problem — and solutions — are available,” Huddy concluded.

— Contact Greg Jordan at gjordan@bdtonline.com