Susan Blumenthal

"The fastest growing epidemic in America is obesity," Blumenthal said. "We’re getting fatter as a nation, putting on an average of one pound a year, despite spending $40 billion a year on weight-loss products."

In the last 100 years, public health tools such as improved sanitation, immunization, food and water supply safety, highway safety laws, and access to Medicare and Medicaid have helped add 30 years to Americans’ life expectancies. Now, the country needs to employ a similar multifaceted public health approach to modify behavioral, structural, and environmental causes of obesity, she said.

"As a nation, we’re at a crossroads when it comes to health and disease," Blumenthal said. The good news is that the health crisis is almost entirely preventable if healthy eating behaviors are encouraged and physical activity is promoted. She added, "We need to apply some of the lessons learned from tobacco control to obesity control and prevention–especially the power of education and community-based approaches."

The health consequences of obesity include heart disease, stroke, asthma and some cancers. Approximately 400,000 deaths in the U.S. are linked to obesity every year, she said. Diabetes associated with obesity has hit American children particularly hard. A dramatic rise in the number of overweight children has led to a quadrupling in Type II diabetes rates in kids over the past two decades. It is estimated that if these obesity trends continue, one out of three children born today in the U.S. will develop Type II diabetes in their lifetimes. Some people worry that this may be the first generation that doesn’t live as long as their parents, said Blumenthal.

Globally, socioeconomic status remains the most powerful predictor of health, and lower incomes may be implicated in the obesity trend. "A growing body of research suggests that people who have gained the most weight in the last decade have the lowest income," Blumenthal said. "For many, fast food is cheaper than buying fresh food."

More research into the factors that contribute to obesity is needed. "I want to underscore the importance of science," Blumenthal emphasized. "It is the fundamental framework from which we devise public health recommendations and interventions."

She added that dissemination of knowledge in the community about life-saving actions must be improved because it currently takes about 15 years for new scientific information to translate into community action.

To that end, HHS launched an education campaign with the Advertising Council on March 10. The campaign advises Americans to take small steps for huge health benefits. The advertising campaign, called the Healthy Lifestyles & Disease Prevention initiative (http://www.smallstep.gov), follows up on President Bush’s Healthier US initiative launched last year (http://healthierus.gov). The initiatives emphasize four health pillars–daily physical activity, a nutritious diet, obtaining screening tests, and avoiding risky behaviors such as tobacco use.

HHS’ funding, including a community grant program, encourages a broad range of organizations to work together to develop action plans and programs that promote healthy lifestyles in their communities, Blumenthal said.

Improving health literacy is another priority, she added, because many people cannot access, understand or use health-related information and services to make appropriate health decisions.

The National Institutes of Health has developed a draft strategic plan for obesity research, available at (http://obesityresearch.nih.gov). The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has a working group to develop an action plan, she said. Revised federal nutrition guidelines will be released in 2005, followed by a revision of the U.S. Department of Agriculture food pyramid.

The event was sponsored by the Department of Nutrition and the Office of the Dean.

--CCM