Obesity of politicians and corruption in Ukraine in 2000–2020– Reply

We collected 469 frontal face images of Ukrainian cabinet ministers who were in office in 2000–2020. For each image, the minister's body mass index was estimated using a computer vision algorithm. The time series of median estimated body mass index of cabinet ministers co-moves over time with two existing measures of corruption – World Bank worldwide governance indicator Control of Corruption, and the discrepancy between the quantity of luxury wristwatches exported from Switzerland to Ukraine (reported by Swiss statistics) and the corresponding quantity imported by Ukraine from Switzerland (reported by Ukrainian statistics).     

The Influences of Portion Size,Context and Package Characteristics on Snack Food Consumption: Evidence from a U.S. Rolling Cross-Sectional Survey

Using a rolling cross-sectional sample of over 40,000 U.S. snack food consumers during 2004–2010, we build a three-dimensional model to study how portion sizes, consumption context, and package characteristics jointly affect the amount of food consumed. As with prior research, we find that consumption does increase with larger portions. However, this effect diminishes significantly when accounting for the consumption context and packaging characteristics as consumption drivers. Most important is how the snack is presented to consumers at the point of consumption (type, size, and quantity of packages). We also find that snacking on impulse, alone, with a beverage, or while watching television increases the amount consumed, whereas socializing or snacking at home decrease consumption. We test our model over seven snack types (potato chips, crackers, cheese puffs, nuts and seeds, tortilla chips, pretzels, popcorn), and find that our results hold even for products with different cross-category granularity, palatability, and satiety.     

What's on the Menu? Policies to Reduce Young People's Sugar Consumption

Young people in the UK consume far above the maximum recommended levels of added sugar. It is likely that neither they nor their parents fully take account of the future health, social and economic costs of this high sugar consumption. This provides a rationale for policy intervention. The majority of young people's added sugar consumption occurs in the home, where purchases are typically made by parents. This means that understanding the purchase decisions of adults is important for policy design, even if the policies aim to reduce the consumption of young people. We discuss the merits of popular policies, including taxes, advertising restrictions and restrictions on the availability of specific foods, and we identify promising avenues for future research.     

肥胖的经济学研究：文献综述

本文从肥胖问题导致的后果、产生的原因及针对的干预三个方面综述了肥胖的相关经济学研究。最近30年肥胖流行症在全球范围内的迅速蔓延已使得如何控制它成为全球最重要的公共健康议题之一。由于肥胖是由社会经济、个体行为、遗传因素及其交互作用所共同决定,单纯的医学研究倍受局限。随着肥胖问题日趋严重,越来越多的学者开始从经济学视角展开探索,这也使人们对肥胖问题有了崭新认识,该领域的研究也已经成为西方应用经济学科研究的重要方向。     

Weight Discrimination in the American Workplace: Ethical Issues and Analysis

Research providing consistent evidence of pervasive discrimination against overweight job applicants and employees in the American workplace raises important questions for organizational stakeholders. To what extent is the disparate treatment of job applicants or employees based on their weight ethically justified? Are there aspects of weight discrimination that make it more acceptable than discrimination based on other characteristics, such as race or gender? What operational steps can employers take to address concerns regarding the ethical treatment of overweight individuals in the workplace? This article investigates these and related questions. Its purpose is to provide information and analysis that will assist organizations in formulating ethical responses to a widespread phenomenon: weight discrimination in the workplace. Although its focus is the American workplace, the proposed employer ethical obligations and the practical guidance that is provided are viewed as generalizing across countries and cultures.     

The Effect of Behavioral Contagion and Tie-Strength on Calorie Intake in Food Courts

Major contributors to the obesity epidemic are societal and result from sedentary lifestyles and consumption of high-calorie diets. Previous studies suggest that food choice behavior is socially transmissible. Hence, knowledge of the impact of social influence on calorie intake is critical to improve the understanding about the outcomes of policies related to healthful diets. There is the need to analyze the influence of social networks on choosing food in a public place. Thus, we interviewed groups of food court patrons in an all-you-can-eat college dining hall. Results show individuals dining in a group with at least one obese group member are consuming more calories from high-calorie foods and fewer calories from low-calorie foods. Food-related interactions in a group influenced food consumption. Hence, dining with obese peers likely increases calorie intake.     

The cost of diabetes and obesity in Australia

Aims: To assess and compare the direct healthcare and non-healthcare costs and government subsidies by body weight and diabetes status.

Methods: The Australian Diabetes, Obesity and Lifestyle study collected health service utilization and health-related expenditure data at the 2011–2012 follow-up surveys. Costing data were available for 4,409 participants. Unit costs for 2016–2017 were used where available or were otherwise inflated to 2016–2017 dollars. Age- and sex-adjusted costs per person were estimated using generalized linear models.

Results: The annual total direct cost ranged from $1,998 per person with normal weight to $2,501 per person with obesity in participants without diabetes. For those with diabetes, total direct costs were $2,353 per person with normal weight, $3,263 per person with overweight, and $3,131 per person with obesity. Additional expenditure as government subsidies ranged from $5,649 per person with normal weight and no diabetes to $8,085 per person with overweight and diabetes. In general, direct costs and government subsidies were higher for overweight and obesity compared to normal weight, regardless of diabetes status, but were more noticeable in the diabetes sub-group. The annual total excess cost compared with normal weight people without diabetes was 26% for obesity alone and 46% for those with obesity and diabetes.

Limitations: Participants included in this study represented a healthier cohort than the Australian population. The relatively small sample of people with both obesity and diabetes prevented a more detailed analysis by obesity class.

Conclusion: Overweight and obesity are associated with increased costs, which are further increased in individuals who also have diabetes. Interventions to prevent overweight and obesity or reduce weight in people who are overweight or obese, and prevent diabetes, should reduce the financial burden.     

Young adults’ consideration of their food choices a propos consequences for their future health

Many researchers have devoted much time and effort to explain the undesirable health outcomes associated with an excessive intake of certain types of fast foods. Particularly vulnerable, are young adults who move out of their parents' homes to live on their own, and then begin to rely on the multitude of so‐called “food away from home” options which are convenient, available and even desirable in their social circles. This study investigated young adults' consideration of the consequences of their consumption of food eaten away from home due to concern about unacceptable habitual behaviour that might negatively affect their future households. The survey involved 395 young adults up to 25 years of age who completed a structured questionnaire which relied on an established Consideration of Future Consequences scale. Data analysis involved exploratory factor analysis, t‐tests and Anova. Findings revealed some concern about the immediate consequences of respondents' fast food consumption, but concern about the future consequences seemed rather distant in their minds. Although significant differences were confirmed within gender and among population groups with regard to immediate concern about their fast food consumption, the means were nevertheless low throughout indicating that much needs to be done to sensitize young people about every day food consumption that might have dire consequences for their future health.     

Warning labels on junk food: experimental evidence

Unhealthy food choice is one of the main causes of being overweight. Nutritionists blame a particular category of food: junk food. Several authors have proposed a fat tax for reducing the junk food demand, but others have demonstrated that these taxes must be very high in order to be effective. Therefore, a warning label about calorie content may be an alternative way to reduce the consumption of junk food. In this exploratory study, using students as respondents, a high‐calorie warning label is explored with an incentive compatible valuation method. The results indicate that a high‐calorie warning label has little effect on respondents’ choices, even when they have no prior familiarity with the food.     

The contribution of Western fast food to fast-growing body mass in China

The westernization of Asian countries has led to the rapid expansion of Western-style fast-food restaurants, which are believed to be fueling an unprecedented rise in body mass in these countries. This study tests this belief using longitudinal data from China. Exploiting the opening of a Western-style fast-food restaurant in a particular community, we conduct a transition analysis to make a more convincing causal interpretation than the standard cross-sectional or fixed-effects approach. Considering several measures of fatness, we find no robust evidence of Western fast food having a substantial effect overall, but there is some indication of effect heterogeneity.