Soda weight loss research has White House fingerprints all over it

It begins.

U.S. researchers estimate that an 18 percent tax on pizza and soda can push down U.S. adults' calorie intake enough to lower their average weight by 5 pounds (2 kg) per year.

The researchers, writing in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine on Monday, suggested taxing could be used as a weapon in the fight against obesity, which costs the United States an estimated $147 billion a year in health costs.

Kiyah Duffey, the head researcher, is funded by a grant from Obama's Center for Disease Control. Duffey is working on behalf of Healthy Living 2010, a government program that searches for new ways to prevent obesity and promote good health. Of course, Duffey could have just as easily produced a study that said, "Running three miles per day can help U.S. adults lose five pounds in one month." But the CDC isn't looking for practical solutions. They're looking for ways for the government to stick its nose into your health. One of Healthy Living 2010's stated goals is actually to "Prevent inappropriate weight gain in youth and adults."

OWN shout out: Is there an impartial researcher out there who can confirm the 5lbs figure? It sounds suspiciously high to us.

The fat police researchers, based in Chicago (where else?), are harping about how much money this would save the United States. Every time someone talks about reducing national health care costs instead of individual health care costs, we may as well already have socialized medicine. In a world where everyone pays for everyone else's health care, how much your neighbor eats and drinks and exercises is suddenly your business. All those fatties who scarf down pizza and soda are costing you money! Tax the hell out of them!

According to Duffey, "Our findings suggest that national, state or local policies to alter the price of less healthful foods and beverages may be one possible mechanism for steering U.S. adults toward a more healthful diet." It's Cass Sunstein's theory: People can't be trusted to make decisions for themselves so they have to be "nudged" by the government. Right now health nannies have had the most luck with this stuff in progressive states, which explains why you can't buy a pack of cigarettes in New York or New England for under $6 anymore. But with Obama ramming his health care bill through and Sunstein enjoying his czardom, how long until the federal government starts sticking its nose into what you eat and drink?