Eating 1/2 cup Fruit or Veg. / day Can Save Your Life

[EdEarl]

 

From: Huff Post Food

More than 127,000 people die every year in America from cardiovascular disease that could be prevented, accruing $17 billion in medical spending. Heart disease is a "costly killer," according to the Union of Concerned Scientists UCS), who has calculated "The $11 Trillion Reward: How Simple Dietary Changes Can Save Lives and Money, and How We Get There," a report published this month.

That $11 trillion opportunity is equal to the present value of lives saved. This arithmetic is based on preventing 127,000 deaths each year due to heart disease, and $17 billion worth of annual medical costs spent on cardiovascular health problems that could be prevented.

If that math doesn't work for you, I'll put it quite plainly: eating just one more portion of fruit or vegetables per day (that's 1/2 cup of either) would add up to $2.7 trillion (with a "t").

 

[CaptainPanic]

When 300 million Americans would eat 1 cup of fruit (that's processed stuff) per day, assuming that cup costs 1 $, then the total costs are:

 

300,000,000 x 1$ x 365 = 109 billion, which means that for each dollar invested in fruits, you reduce costs by about 27$.

 

If they would eat fresh fruit (like an apple), the costs should be lower still.

 

The main problem is of course that those medical costs are paid almost entirely by the individual citizens of the US, not by corporations. So, corporations don't particularly care about these unnecessary costs. Most people develop problems after retirement.

 

But if the benefits are really this large, you could wonder if it would not be wise for the government to just sponsor (subsidize) these fruits and veggies. Every dollar invested would free up 27 dollars that can be reallocated to somewhere else. (Yes, I simplify things a bit).

[EdEarl]

When 300 million Americans would eat 1 cup of fruit (that's processed stuff) per day, assuming that cup costs 1 $, then the total costs are:

 

300,000,000 x 1$ x 365 = 109 billion, which means that for each dollar invested in fruits, you reduce costs by about 27$.

 

If they would eat fresh fruit (like an apple), the costs should be lower still.

 

The main problem is of course that those medical costs are paid almost entirely by the individual citizens of the US, not by corporations. So, corporations don't particularly care about these unnecessary costs. Most people develop problems after retirement.

 

But if the benefits are really this large, you could wonder if it would not be wise for the government to just sponsor (subsidize) these fruits and veggies. Every dollar invested would free up 27 dollars that can be reallocated to somewhere else. (Yes, I simplify things a bit).

IMO a subsidy for the growers would make the fruit and veg's harder to swallow.