When I studied Human Nutrition, I was impressed by how subtle dietary alterations can cause morbid obesity. Because the alterations are subtle, and because their initial presentations are inconclusive for diagnosis, they generally go unregarded for what they are. At the same time, the causal stimuli, even when identified, are generally considered innocuous at worst. Thus, as the malnutrition presents, at first it goes unnoticed: 100 kcal on a given day is not measured nor regarded as a manifestation of a dangerous and costly pathology. After all, that's just a slice of bread, or a can of pop, or a couple bites from a McBurger, or whatever. But over ten years, that extra 100 kcal per day, for the pathologically afflicted who take it consistently, translates to 100 pounds of body fat. And then 200 pounds of fat over twenty years, and then we notice: Another 45-year-old, 400-pound patient who requires a crane attended by two full-time staffers just to get into and out of her hospital bed at the Harborview.
I think we need to go to the start of the problem, and solve it there. There's a lot of casualties. And it's costing us a lot more than a big, fat, butt-load of money.