Are obese people responsible for rising food prices?

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Are obese people responsible for rising food prices? YES

We endorse the call for fair and sustainable solutions to tackle the causes of global food insecurity, but argue for greater recognition of the importance of reducing the demand for transportation fuel in resolving the struggle for energy between people and cars.

Motorized transport is more than 95 percent oil-dependent and accounts for almost half of world oil use. Because oil is a key agricultural input, demand for transportation fuel affects food prices. Increased car use also contributes to rising food prices by promoting obesity which increases the global demand for food.

Compared with the normal weight population, the obese population consumes 18 percent more food energy. Additionally, more transportation fuel energy will be used to transport the increased mass of the obese population.

Urban transport policies that promote walking and cycling would reduce food prices by reducing the global demand for oil, and promotion of a normal distribution of body mass would reduce the global demand for, and thus the price of, food.

Phil Edwards and Ian Roberts, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

http://www.kansascity.com/273/story/668344.html