April 23rd, 2008

The title’s a little garish – “What if no one were fat?” – but this MSN Money story examines the economic impact of obesity on the United States, estimating that our country would save $487 BILLION if no one were overweight.

The number comes from including common sense savings, like the medical costs of obesity-related problems such as diabetes, stroke and heart disease ($140 billion), but also cost savings from plane and car fuel consumption ($3.8 billion) and the savings from manufacturers creating less clothing sizes ($10 billion).