Two-thirds of adults and one-third of children are overweight or obese in the U.S., resulting in an annual cost of $190.2 billion for treating weight-related illness, according to the Institute of Medicine, which released a report Tuesday offering recommendations for combatting the problem.
The report, “Accelerating Progress in Obesity Prevention: Solving the Weight of the Nation,” was sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and released at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's "Weight of the Nation" conference. In it the IOM offers five strategies for combatting the nation’s weight problem:
• integrate physical activity every day in every way;
• market what matters for a healthy life;
• make healthy foods and beverages available everywhere;
• activate employers and healthcare professionals; and
• strengthen schools as the heart of health.
Accomplishing any one of these might help speed up progress in preventing obesity, but together, their effects will be reinforced, amplified and maximized, said the report.
Specific strategies that the report’s committee noted include requiring at least 60 minutes per day of physical education and activity in schools, industry-wide guidelines on which foods and beverages can be marketed to children and how, expansion of workplace wellness programs, taking full advantage of physicians' roles to advocate for obesity prevention with patients and in the community and increasing the availability of lower-calorie, healthier children's meals in restaurants
"As the trends show, people have a very tough time achieving healthy weights when inactive lifestyles are the norm and inexpensive, high-calorie foods and drinks are readily available 24 hours a day," said committee chair Dan Glickman, executive director of congressional programs, Aspen Institute, Washington, D.C., and former secretary, U.S. Department of Agriculture, in a press release. "Individuals and groups can't solve this complex problem alone, and that's why we recommend changes that can work together at the societal level and reinforce one another's impact to speed our progress."
IOM president Harvey V. Fineberg believes the nation's obesity problem must be confronted on an individual level but also on a larger scale.
"Obesity is both an individual and societal concern, and it will take action from all of us — individuals, communities and the nation as a whole — to achieve a healthier society," he said in a press release.
The report's recommendations are being released in conjunction with the new "Weight of the Nation" initiative, which includes an HBO documentary series presented in collaboration with IOM, in association with CDC and the National Institutes of Health, and in partnership with Kaiser Permanente and the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation. The initiative seeks to spur individuals and groups to get involved in local efforts to promote healthy eating and activity.