SOLUTIONS: Eradicating America’s obesity epidemic

Obesity is epidemic in the U.S. Currently, 72 million Americans are overweight or obese. The consequences are enormous and include personal suffering through disease and disability, increased medical care and its attendant costs, and a substantial economic impact of lost wages.

While personal responsibility and healthy lifestyle choices are part of the solution, willpower alone is not enough. There are larger forces at work. Environmental factors strongly influence our behavior and actions. In addition, genetic susceptibility plays a major role in why some people become obese and others do not in this obesigenic environment.

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• SOLUTIONS: Dealing with America’s obesity problem

We believe it will take a concerted, nationwide effort and determined investment across a generation to reverse the alarming trends. We must invest in basic and clinical research in the same way that we fought and are winning the war on cancer, education programs like those addressing the dangers of hypertension and high cholesterol, and campaigns to change behavior like those used to combat smoking.

The Obesity Society supports action in these 10 areas as a means to reverse the obesity epidemic:

• Fight a “war on obesity, not the obese.”

The consequences of obesity will not be reduced by further stigmatizing obese people. We must work to end discrimination and eliminate the negative social stigma that surrounds obesity.

• Change public perception and understanding of obesity from a “character flaw” to a complex disease involving genes, behavior and environment.

While personal willpower and healthy lifestyle choices are part of the solution, a lack of willpower is not the cause and personal responsibility alone is not enough to solve the problem.

• Educate the public on the complex nature of obesity, its causes and consequences.

We believe that a national debate on obesity, similar to past campaigns in smoking and cholesterol, will be necessary to move us ahead. The public also needs to understand the consequences of obesity, such as an increased risk of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, breast and colon cancer, orthopedic problems and other common medical disorders, so that they can make informed decisions about their lifestyle and seek out evidence-based treatment.

• Increase access to professional treatment of obesity so that the more expensive and devastating consequences can be averted.

Reimburse professional care for obesity, including obesity drugs and surgery, where appropriate, just like antihypertensives and cholesterol-lowering medications. We believe the fact that these treatments are not widely covered is linked to the general bias that obesity is a problem of willpower, not a medical condition that needs scientifically grounded treatment.

• Incorporate nutrition education, lifestyle counseling, obesity diagnosis and obesity management into the curriculum of medical schools and other professional schools, and create and designate a cadre of obesity specialists within relevant professions.

Implement new educational, credentialing and mentoring programs to train and designate clinicians with expertise in the evidence-based management of obesity so that the public can seek out quality medical care for obesity.

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