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SA is grappling with a catastrophic level of noncommunicable diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and some cancers. The cost of runaway obesity and overweight is also high for the state’s purse. Should it continue unabated, researchers believe we are looking at a future population with deteriorated physical and mental health and comorbidities that render them more susceptible to infectious diseases.
The costs of diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and some cancers to the state in the long term are impossible to ignore. Researchers at Wits University crunched the numbers and found that the “annual per person cost of overweight and obesity is R2,769”. The total cost to the state is R33bn. This means the state is spending an extra R2,769 on healthcare costs for everyone who is obese or overweight.
SA cannot afford such a high disease burden. Front-of-pack warning labels, a tool that can be implemented with other measures, can help curb the rise in non-communicable diseases. A unique study in Mexico projected that 1.3-million cases of obesity could be averted in the five years after the implementation of warning labels in the country, representing a 14.7% reduction in obesity prevalence.
Warning labels are expected to save Mexico about $1.8bn in obesity-related costs over five years. This includes an estimate of $1.1bn saved in healthcare costs and $742m saved in indirect costs such as inability to work, caregiver expenses and premature death.
To make them cheaper and more profitable, many ultraprocessed foods are loaded with additives such as sugars, salts and trans fats that wreak havoc on our bodies and put us at risk of an early death. We are armed with little more than impossible-to-understand back-of-pack nutrition labels. Front-of-pack labels do not take away the consumer’s choices; instead they empower citizens to make better choices about their health.
Zukiswa Zimela Healthy Living Alliance
JOIN THE DISCUSSION: Send us an email with your comments to letters@businesslive.co.za. Letters of more than 300 words will be edited for length. Anonymous correspondence will not be published. Writers should include a daytime telephone number.
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
LETTER: Warning labels on food
It is unconscionable that the country continues to put industry interests over the health of ordinary people (“‘Scare stickers’ on less healthy foods likely to come with a heavy price”, February 6).
SA is grappling with a catastrophic level of noncommunicable diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and some cancers. The cost of runaway obesity and overweight is also high for the state’s purse. Should it continue unabated, researchers believe we are looking at a future population with deteriorated physical and mental health and comorbidities that render them more susceptible to infectious diseases.
The costs of diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and some cancers to the state in the long term are impossible to ignore. Researchers at Wits University crunched the numbers and found that the “annual per person cost of overweight and obesity is R2,769”. The total cost to the state is R33bn. This means the state is spending an extra R2,769 on healthcare costs for everyone who is obese or overweight.
SA cannot afford such a high disease burden. Front-of-pack warning labels, a tool that can be implemented with other measures, can help curb the rise in non-communicable diseases. A unique study in Mexico projected that 1.3-million cases of obesity could be averted in the five years after the implementation of warning labels in the country, representing a 14.7% reduction in obesity prevalence.
Warning labels are expected to save Mexico about $1.8bn in obesity-related costs over five years. This includes an estimate of $1.1bn saved in healthcare costs and $742m saved in indirect costs such as inability to work, caregiver expenses and premature death.
To make them cheaper and more profitable, many ultraprocessed foods are loaded with additives such as sugars, salts and trans fats that wreak havoc on our bodies and put us at risk of an early death. We are armed with little more than impossible-to-understand back-of-pack nutrition labels. Front-of-pack labels do not take away the consumer’s choices; instead they empower citizens to make better choices about their health.
Zukiswa Zimela
Healthy Living Alliance
JOIN THE DISCUSSION: Send us an email with your comments to letters@businesslive.co.za. Letters of more than 300 words will be edited for length. Anonymous correspondence will not be published. Writers should include a daytime telephone number.
‘Scare stickers’ on less healthy foods likely to come with a heavy price
Basic food basket costs R500 more than a year ago
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Published by Arena Holdings and distributed with the Financial Mail on the last Thursday of every month except December and January.