The survey, conducted by the health consultancy agency the Lewin Group, did not include the costs of treating obesity itself, which affects more than 22 per cent of Americans.
In Canada, about half the 30 million population is overweight, including one-third who are obese.
About $2 billion Canadian is spent annually to treat fat-related illnesses in Canada. That compares with annual health care spending of $3.5 billion Canadian as a result of tobacco use.
The U.S. study released looked at the costs of treating stroke, arthritis, heart disease, diabetes and 11 other conditions in obese people.
Obesity is defined as having a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or higher, calculated by dividing a person's weight in kilograms by height in meters squared.
For example, a person 1.65 meters tall (5 foot 5 inches) who weighs 60 kilograms (132 pounds) would have a BMI of 22.
"The data indicatd that a person with a BMI of more than 35 has a 6.61 times greater risk than a person who is not overweight (a BMI of under 25) of contracting type II diabetes," Dr Robert Rubin, President of the Lewin Group, told a conference sponsored by the American Obesity Association.
"A person with severe obesity has 3.77 greater chance of being hypertensive (high blood pressure)."
Experts on obesity,as well as past sufferers such as the Duchess of York, siad the first step to addressing the problem is to talk openly about it.
"Because people are frightened of it and afraid to talk about it, they go into denial," the duschess, known as "Fergie" after her maiden name Sarah Ferguson, told the conference.
"I want more people to admit it is OK to admit problems with obesity," said the duchess. "I was 200 pounds (90 kgs), I know how it feels.
U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. David Satcher, said that although the country had conquered infectious diseases such as smallpox and polio, it is moving in the wrong direction in a few areas -- one of which was obesity.
"Obesity is a major public health problem in this country," he said
"The prevalence has increased by 20 percent in 20 years."
In 1962, 12.8% of Americans were obese and 14% were in 1980. Now 22.3 percent are (obese).
All the experts agree the problem boils down to a lack of exercise. Only 27% of high school students in the ninth through 12th grades took a physical education class in 1997, Satcher said.
Dr. Claude Bouchard, formerly of Laval University in Quebec and now head of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, estimated that genes are responsible for about 30% of obesity.
But people can overcome a genetic predisposition very easily with exercise, Bouchard added.
(A Sure Sign: Waist measurement more than a meter (39 inches) means a greater risk for heart disease because of a high level of abdominal fat. Half the Canadian population is believed overweight.)
Some more info on Obesity
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