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Last month, researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health came out with another report, in what has been a parade of dire warnings about obesity in the US. In a study in the July issue of Obesity, they concluded that unless our eating habits or exercise habits change, 86% of the American population will be overweight or obese by 2030. The obese are more susceptible to an array of health problems, such as hypertension, type 2 diabetes, heart disease and stroke. Widespread obesity also means that today's children may even have a shorter life expectancy than their parents.

But poor health isn't the only way Americans pay for all that extra weight, there's also a hefty financial price attached. Here are the top five costs associated with obesity:

1. Lower wages: Stanford University researchers found that obese men and women earn, on average, $3.41 per hour less than their peers. Employers tend to pay obese workers less when they're footing the bill for their insurance, researchers said, speculating that it could be an unconscious reaction on the part of the employer to having to pay higher premiums for a more obese workforce.

2. Fewer work hours: On average, obese workers tend to lose a week of work a year due to ailments related to their weight, according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.

3. Higher medical costs: Overweight males incur medical costs that are $170 more annually than their leaner co-workers, while overweight females incur costs $495 higher than their counterparts, Finkelstein and Zuckerman write.

4. Extra air travel costs: Budget airlines such as Southwest require obese people or people who may take up more than one seat to buy an adequate number of seats on the flight. And heavier passengers burn more fuel.

5. More gasoline: Obviously, more weight burns more gasoline in cars, too.

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Labels: Obesity, study