WASHINGTON — Curbing the obesity epidemic requires community intervention, Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said at the CDC's Weight of the Nation conference.
“The only way on a societal basis to reduce the prevalence of obesity is through community action, not through individual clinical interventions,” Dr. Frieden said in a press conference.
“We got to this stage in the [obesity] epidemic because of a change in our environment,” he said. “Only a change in our environment again will allow us to get back to a healthier place.”
To help communities respond to the obesity epidemic, the CDC launched Common Community Measures for Obesity Prevention. As part of this project, the CDC convened a panel of experts in a variety of areas including nutrition, urban planning, and physical activity, as well as obesity prevention. The complete recommendations, along with supporting evidence and suggestions for implementation, were published in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (2009:58 [RR-7]:1-26).
“We can't wait for the best possible evidence; we have to act on the best available evidence,” explained Dr. William Dietz, director of the CDC's Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity. Dr. Dietz presented the CDC's recommendations at a press conference.
The panel agreed on 24 strategies, which fall into six categories:
▸ To promote availability of affordable healthy foods and beverages (e.g., adding grocery stores in underserved areas).
▸ To support healthy food and beverage choices (e.g., limiting ads for unhealthy food and beverages).
▸ To encourage breast-feeding (e.g., encouraging workplaces to support breastfeeding mothers).
▸ To encourage physical activity or limit sedentary activity in children and adolescents (e.g., requiring physical education in schools).
▸ To create safe communities that support physical activity (e.g., enhancing infrastructure to support walking and biking).
▸ To encourage communities to organize for change (e.g., participating in coalitions and partnerships to address obesity).
The panel chose strategies that are likely to have a broad reach and a long-term, meaningful impact on health, according to the full report. And the panel deemed the strategies reasonable for a community to implement.
“Of course there are important things that physicians can do in their own practices, in terms of measuring [body mass index], counseling patients, and taking action to encourage weight loss and maintenance of weight loss,” Dr. Frieden said.
But physicians' roles shouldn't begin and end in the office setting, he added.
“I think there is a responsibility to physicians and the medical profession generally to be active in their communities promoting prevention,” said Dr. Frieden. It is often physicians who encourage community actions and influence policy makers, he emphasized.
It is often physicians who encourage community actions and influence policy makers.
Source DR. FRIEDEN