With the nation mired in growing budget deficits and a massive national debt, it shouldn’t have to waste money on programs and policies geared toward helping people reduce growing waistlines.

Losing excessive pounds is a personal challenge and personal responsibility — and, most often, a key to better health. But government has more important duties than managing people’s weight.

According to a new Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll, 6 in 10 people surveyed oppose taxes known as soda or fat taxes targeting unhealthy foods, even though they’re impacted by higher medical insurance costs resulting from people with poor eating habits.

It’s open to debate whether people should embrace a hands-off option, at least favoring stepped-up government-funded weight-loss research.

The poll found that a third of those surveyed want government to play little or no role in finding ways to curb obesity, while another third were in the middle in terms of whether or not the government should have a role.

According to the poll, three-quarters of Americans admit that obesity is a serious health problem for this country, but most of those rightly said dealing with it should be up to each individual, not the government.

Anyone can look in a mirror and see when he or she needs to shed some pounds to benefit his or her appearance — and to feel better. It’s up to each individual to determine the point at which he or she should stop buying bigger clothes or take positive action to shed excessive weight.

Granted, some people have difficulty controlling weight because of medications or medical circumstances beyond their control. Everyone should be sympathetic to those affected in those ways.

But studies or polls estimating how many Americans are overweight really accomplish little besides being a reminder of the problem — a problem quite evident without any polls or studies.

Under a best-case scenario, government’s role should be limited to nutritional guidelines for schools, as well as setting minimum physical education requirements for students. It’s clear that if there’s something truly effective — and cost-effective — that government could do to help overweight or obese adults, it has yet to find it.

If overweight or obese adults would make a commitment to lose just a few pounds, some of those individuals, once they shed some weight, might be encouraged to continue their efforts — if only because of feeling more energetic. Some even might choose to become generally more active by spending less time sitting in front of their computer or TV set.

Everyone is ultimately responsible for his or her own eating habits and choices.

Unfortunately, with millions of Americans failing to eat a healthy diet and engage in regular exercise, they’ll continue to gain weight, putting themselves at increased risk for diabetes, heart disease or other weight-related health problems, even possibly shortening their lives.

Obesity is a national crisis, but it does not have to be, even if the government devotes its time and efforts to other issues — as it should.