Article Archive

Language matters. The words we use to discuss health and disease directly impact beliefs, behaviors, and experiences.

Obesity is characterized by the accumulation of excess body fat (adiposity) that presents a risk to health. Although excess body weight is often associated with excess adiposity, obesity is a complex disease that should not be conflated with high body weight alone. The location of fat deposition is an important determinant of morbidity.

Over the past decade, researchers have explored the link between social relationships and individual health outcomes. Obesity—like food intake, depression, physical activity, and healthy behaviors—clusters within social networks.

It is likely that the proportion of cancer cases and deathsattributable to obesity will continue to rise in the U.S. and globally over the next decade. Evidence-based interventions to promote healthy weight should be incorporated into comprehensive cancer control strategies for those with and without a history of cancer.

Thank you to our STOP Obesity Alliance members and partners for your dedicated efforts to improve obesity prevention and treatment this past year. Together, we have accomplished important work in many areas that align with our STOP goals:

Employers are among the stakeholders with the most to gain from policies that foster healthy weight management. Self-reported data from the 2004-2011 National Health Interview Survey indicated that 35 million U.S. workers—one-fourth of the American workforce—were affected by obesity, but this estimate likely underestimated the true disease prevalence.

Despite what seems to be widely believed, obesity is not an intractable problem. Yes, it is complex and quite challenging. But our job is to keep working to identify and remove barriers – both systemic and cultural – to the prevention and treatment of this widespread, common disease.

My recent JAMA editorial—"Nutrition Counseling in Clinical Practice: How Clinicians Can Do Better”—discusses why healthcare providers seldom address nutrition with their patients and suggests some small steps we can take.

Few U.S. health professionals are adequately trained in the prevention and management of obesity. Only 1 in 4 physicians feel prepared to effectively counsel patients on healthy eating and physical activity.

The individual challenges, costs, and overall burden of the obesity epidemic continue to require new thinking. I have begun to see young adulthood as a neglected, yet critical, period of study in the development of obesity.

This month, more than 20 leading health organizations  representing a range of health care providers released the first-ever set of interdisciplinary educational competencies for the prevention and treatment of obesity. Collectively, the competencies span virtually all aspects of care and establish a common basis for understanding and working with people with obesity.

This month, the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports, & Nutrition (PCFSN) helped to coordinate events nationwide in honor of National Physical Fitness & Sports Month.  Beginning with National PE & Sports Week and ending today with National Senior Health & Fitness Day, the month encourages Americans

In 1985, Dr. Vincent Felitti was frustrated by the 50% dropout rateof patients with severe obesity from his San Diego-based clinic. Upon review, Felitti was shocked to find that most dropouts were losing weight when they left the program. Follow-up interviews with these patients revealed that the majority (55%) had experienced some form of childhood sexual abuse. Many women indicated that they believed their physical size helped to ward off sexual advances from men.

Amid rising costs to employers, interest in evidence-based strategies to promote physical, mental, and financial wellbeing of employees has grown steadily.

In a 2012 report, Accelerating Progress in Obesity Prevention(APOP), the National Academy of Medicine recommended five areas of focus to address obesity in the United States:

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