The report conducted on behalf of the state’s Department of Health Services says obesity and physical inactivity cost employers more than 21-billion dollars in 2000 through higher medical expenses and lost productivity. At a health fair on the steps of the Capitol, State Public Health Officer Doctor Richard Jackson says he was shocked by the numbers.

  “I was also shocked by the costs of inactivity, I knew that obesity and being overweight and out of shape was going to be expensive because being obese and overweight puts you at risk for all kinds of diseases but I did not think the costs of inactivity, being out of shape would be as large as they’ve turned out to be.”

 The report says over the last decade California has experienced one of the fastest rates of increase in adult obesity.