Nutrition and physical activity training should be incorporated in all phases of medical education–medical schools, residency programs, credentialing processes, and continuing education requirements.
Five Forums Generate Nutrition and Physical Activity Policy Recommendations
Supporting the Bipartisan Policy Center's Nutrition and Physical Activity Initiative to encourage collaboration on childhood obesity prevention
Dates of Project: August 15, 2011–August 14, 2012
Field of Work: Developing policy recommendations on improving nutrition and physical activity across the nation
Problem Synopsis: Fully two-thirds of Americans are overweight or obese, and one-third of American children are overweight or obese. Solutions must focus on those areas that hold the most promise to bring about change on the scale and within the timeframe needed to respond to the enormous fiscal, social, economic, and public health threat they present.
Synopsis of the Work: The project team:
- Convened meetings and public forums co-chaired by two former secretaries of Agriculture and two former secretaries of Health and Human Services
- Created a report outlining 26 practical recommendations to improve nutrition and physical activity across the nation.
Key Results and Recommendations: The project director noted a number of key recommendations from the report:
- The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Department of Agriculture should extend federal guidelines for diet and physical activity to all children under six and enhance public awareness and understanding of these guidelines.
- Nutrition and physical activity training should be incorporated in all phases of medical education—medical schools, residency programs, credentialing processes, and continuing education requirements.
- Public and private insurers should structure incentives to reward effective, community-based, prevention-oriented services that have demonstrated capacity to reduce costs significantly over time.
Training in nutrition & physical activity should be in all phases of medical education says Lots to Lose report.
Public- and private-sector organizations active in this field should partner to establish a national clearinghouse on health-related nutrition and physical activity initiatives.
Recommended Reading
- Looking for Connections to Combat Childhood Obesity
- Helping Communities Assess Their Progress in Preventing Childhood Obesity
- The Sugar-Sweetened Beverage and Childhood Obesity Connection
- What Really Works to Reduce Childhood Obesity? Stakeholders Want Evidence
- Making the Economic Case for Addressing Obesity in the United States
- National Urban League Tackles Childhood Obesity
- Using an Idea Prize to Spur an Invention to Increase Physical Activity
- Healthy Eating Research
Public and private insurers should structure incentives to reward effective, community-based, prevention-oriented services that have demonstrated capacity to reduce costs significantly over time.