Almost 17 percent of all U.S medical costs are due to obesity, according to a new research conducted by National Bureau of Economic Research. The findings suggest the nation's weight issue is nearly twice higher than previous estimate in terms of medical spending.

The research revealed that the medical costs in relation to obesity are closer to $170 billion annually than $150 billion largely due to understated self-reporting and excessively careful research gathering.

A prominent up to date study released in 2009 estimated that obesity-related medical costs have arrived at $147 billion of all medical costs.

The previous research also estimated that obesity costs about $1,400 per person annually on medical bills. The new study suggests the added cost is twice higher than that which exceeds $2,800.

John Cawley of Cornell University and Chad Meyerhoefer of Lehigh University who conducted the study indicate that the motivation behind their research isn’t’ to thrust for additional funding related to the dealing of obesity, but merely to inform. "This paper does not estimate the medical care cost of obesity in order to argue that treatment of obesity should be prioritized above treatment of other conditions, but so that the medical care consequences of obesity will be more accurately known," they mentioned.