Excess human weight poses a risk to future economic prosperity.

Using data from the United Nations and World health Organization, researchers at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine estimate the excess human biomass totals approximately 37 billion pounds, with 7 billion pounds due to obesity.

According to their data, “North America has 6 percent of the world population but 34 percent of biomass due to obesity.”

A 2009 study by Humana, one of the largest managed healthcare companies in the US, suggests the annual cost of healthcare and lost productivity due to excess weight is over $120 billion, or $20 per pound. The food expense to maintain this weight is close to $10 per pound.

In fact, it takes 142 trillion calories to power the unnecessary weight, enough energy to circle the earth 4 million times by automobile.

The total annual expense associated with this mass is more than $1.trillion. These funds could feed the nearly 1 billion undernourished people in the world and act as a much needed boost to long term investment and economic prosperity.