Surgeon General Calls for National Effort to Combat Obesity

Prior to leaving office in February 2002, Surgeon General David Satcher, M.D., Ph.D., called on communities, schools, health care providers, the media, and worksites to address the epidemic of overweight and obesity among U.S. adults and children. The Surgeon General’s Call To Action To Prevent and Decrease Overweight and Obesity, released December 13, 2001, advocates an environmental as well as individual approach to effectively prevent and treat this growing public health problem.

Overweight or obesity affects nearly two out of three adults in the U.S. Thirteen percent of children and adolescents are overweight. The associated health risks—heart disease, diabetes, several forms of cancer, and other chronic ailments—contribute to some 300,000 deaths a year. “Our modern environment has allowed these conditions to increase at an alarming rate and to become highly pressing health problems for our Nation,” notes Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson. The goal of the Call To Action is to set priorities and establish strategies and actions at multiple levels to reduce overweight and obesity.

School interventions, such as daily physical education for all children from preschool through high school, rank high on the Surgeon General’s list of priorities. The Call To Action challenges schools to offer foods low in fat, calories, and added sugars, and to restrict student access to vending machines that compete with healthy school meals.

Worksites can also promote healthy habits by giving employees time during the workday to be physically active, offering healthy food options in their cafeterias, and including weight management counseling in their health insurance benefits. The report asks the health care system to consider classifying obesity as a disease in order to promote insurance reimbursement of obesity-related services.

Communities should encourage physical activity by providing safe and accessible playgrounds, sidewalks, and walking trails, particularly in inner cities, the report recommends. Restaurants should offer nutrition information and serve reasonable portion sizes. The media should understand and communicate that the primary concern of overweight and obesity is not one of appearance but of health.

The report notes that although rates of overweight and obesity have increased in both genders and across all racial, ethnic, and age groups, minorities and people of lower socioeconomic status bear a larger share of the burden. The Surgeon General encourages researchers to examine these disparities and to support culturally appropriate consumer education.

To accomplish these goals, the Call To Action recommends the formation of public-private working groups to address key issues and design interventions to prevent and treat overweight and obesity. A national public-private steering committee could provide centralized leadership to such efforts.

“Many people believe that dealing with overweight and obesity is a personal responsibility,” notes Dr. Satcher. “To some degree they are right, but it is also a community responsibility.” The Call To Action urges individuals, organizations, industry, communities, and government to work together to confront this nationwide health threat.

The full report is available at www.surgeongeneral.gov/topics/obesity/default.htm or from WIN. s