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Nearly two billion people are overweight or obese in the world.
This is remarkably bad for our health, but, as with all things, great for few groups.
Case in point this week the FDA approved the first obesity pill in 13 years. Shares of drugmaker Arena surged 30 percent after the announcement, boosting the company's market cap by around $500 million.
And drugs are just the tip of this large iceberg. Someone has to feed and take care of all of those fat people.
Fast food restaurants
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Fast, cheap and delicious, fast food restaurants are more popular than ever. McDonald's U.S. sales are up 26 percent over the 5 years; Wendy's U.S. sales are up 9 percent and Subway's U.S. sales are up 48 percent.
And international growth is even hotter.
In 1992 when Rutgers professor Benjamin Barber coined the term "McWorld," there were 12,700 McDonald'sworldwide. Today there are over 33,000.
Fast food suppliers
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All these enormous fast-food chains have suppliers that sell beef, eggs, vegetables and other similar raw materials at a retail price and it's a gigantic industry that goes, for the most part, under the mainstream radar. McDonald's, for example, spent at least $10 billion on food in 2011.
Snack food
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The US snack food industry is expected to soar from $56 billion in 2006 to $77 billion by 2015.
This industry benefits from obesity—with junk food to satisfy any appetite—and also from the countervailing obsession with health—with a growing market of healthy snacks.
Says industry analyst David Sprinkle: “The boundaries between meals and snacks are growing ever blurrier, creating consumer consumption habits that will resonate for generations. The children of today, comfortable with replacing entire meals with snacks, will pass these lifestyle traits on to their children, ensuring that snacking will remain a big part of American life."
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