We all know that malnutrition could affect economic output. Now it seems that obesity can too. In fact, according to a World Bank specialist, obesity could knock as much as 3% off production in the poorest countries, same as malnutrition.

Obesity has tripled in the past two decades. One in 10 children and one in five adults will be obese in Europe and Central Asia by 2010, according to the WHO. And obese people are more likely to be sick, thus be absent from work incurring both direct and indirect cost to the economy. This drain would hurt developing economies most, with obesity prevalence shifting from the rich to the poor.

Interestingly, as I was writing this, CNBC had a segment on generation XL. CNBC gave some startling statistics: 17% of Americans between 2-19 are overweight, 2/3 of Americans have a BMI of over 25 - overweight, 1/3 (more than 60 million) is considered obese with BMI of over 30. And how much does obesity cost? $100 billion of medical expenditures per year are attributed to obesity! More than 10% of health care cost.

RTI gave a few more quick data points: For example normal weight women miss 3 days a year due to health reasons, obese women more than 8. Or a company with over 1,000 employees incurs $285,000 a year due to obesity.

So who's responsible? Ronald Leopold of MetLife, who was interviewed at CNBC, thinks the responsibility should be public, private, and individual. Corporations, for example, could subsidize gym membership, have a healthier cafeteria food, and on-site weight-loss programs.

The question remains, who should pay for obesity caused costs? The argument was made that smokers pay more in life insurance, why not obese people in health insurance? Despite my own "ideal" BMI, I don't think the problem would be solved with dynamic insurance. What we need is education, education, education. Oh, and less advertising.

What do you think, should health insurance be dynamic? Who's to blame? Who should pay the price?