United States: Study Estimates Cost of US Obesity at $140 Billion.

Section: General News - A new study has quantified the costs of a growing problem in America - obesity. And experts are trying to develop strategies to reverse the trend.

Two-thirds of American adults, and one out of five children are above what doctors consider a healthy weight for their size, and those numbers have been increasing. People who are above their healthy weight are, not surprisingly, not as healthy.

It's no wonder experts talk about an "epidemic" of obesity.

"Obesity and with it, diabetes, are the only major health problems that are getting worse in this country, and they're getting worse rapidly," says Dr. Thomas Frieden, head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He adds that the …