Obvious Study Report: Obese People Come with a Heavy Price Tag

I would think that this is about as obvious as a pie in the face, but researchers at Duke University published a report Monday in the Archives of Internal Medicine which concludes that obese individuals put a strain on the economy and the companies they work for. The shocking revelation unveiled in the report is that the obese have more health problems than their slimmer counterparts, and that this has an effect on the economy of the work place. The San Francisco Chronicle reports.

Well, duh! What was I suppose to think? That because of their affinity for sitting obese people are ideal employees? Sorry, but I wasn't giving them the benefit of the doubt.

That's right, obese individuals take far more sick days and file far more worker's compensation claims than their slimmer counterparts. (Plus, they move more slowly and take longer lunches, as is required by a second trip to the all-you-can-eat buffet).

In all seriousness though, the statistical data provided by the report is rather astuonding, though I am not sure exactly what parameters the researchers used to distinguish the obese from (healthy-looking) others. According to the report, the average worker's compensation claims per 100 employees were a whopping $51,019 per obese employee, compared to $7,503 per non-obese worker. Additionally, obese workers missed an average of 183.63 days of work per 100 employees, almost 13 times the average 14.19 missed by the non-obese employees.

My only question now is how many soda and corndog manufacturers actually profit from the obese despite the losses incured by their own hefty employees?