Is the obesity epidemic a national security issue around the globe?

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: To understand how obesity affects national security by focusing on three case study countries – the USA, China, and Mexico.

RECENT FINDINGS: Whereas in the USA and Mexico, over two-thirds of adults are overweight and obese compared to about 29% of Chinese, large increases in the prevalence of overweight and obesity have occurred in all three countries in the past two decades. National security affected in the USA ranges both from an economic perspective – increasing healthcare problems and costs to the point where our labor costs have reached uncompetitive cost levels, and from a military preparedness perspective, namely our overweight soldiers are unable to perform normal activities and functions required of soldiers. In both Mexico and China, it is the economic and health system costs that are dominant concerns, both the costs of obesity-related medical care and the productivity of the work force are creating potential long-term effects on economic competitiveness.

SUMMARY: Obesity is adversely affecting the welfare, economic, and in some cases military security of these three countries