Higher gas prices may reduce obesity

$1 increase = 10% drop?

Steve Hawley, Jul 23, 09.

Higher gas prices may reduce obesity by causing more Americans to walk, bike, use public transit, and dine in, according to Forbes.com. The article states:

There’s a bevy of factors behind the surging waistlines of Americans: processed foods, television, videogames, computers, fewer laborious jobs, more service-oriented jobs. But one factor floats just below the oily surface of our largesse: cheap gas.

A study by the University of North Carolina at Greensboro indicates that a sustained $1 increase in the price of a gallon of gas may result in a 10 percent drop in the nation’s obesity rate, reducing the number of obese individuals by 9 million. The study compared health and weight information to gas prices at the state level, relying on information collected by the federal government since 1984. With over one million data samples, researcher Charles Courtemanche said, “I feel confident in saying that it’s a causal relationship.”

Furthermore, Courtemanche said, a sustained $1 increase in the price of gas translates into 11,000 fewer obesity-related deaths and $11 billion in health savings every year. The effects could be even more pronounced if the price of gas hits $5 or $6 per gallon. “As we go up from $4,” Courtemanche said, “the effect gas prices have on obesity might even accelerate. Now you’re not only talking about more biking and walking, you’re talking about people actually starting to change where they live and more people moving into cities.”

Courtemanche’s study: “A Silver Lining? The Connection between Gas Prices and Obesity” (2008)

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