Beyond the individual health risks and quality of life associated with obesity, there is a huge societal and economic burden through the direct and indirect costs it generates.

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics the total annual cost of obesity in 2008 including health system costs, loss of productivity and carers’ costs was estimated at around $58 billion.

It gets worse. The cost to Australia’s collective well being is $120 billion as estimated by the Herald/Age Lateral Economics Index. read more