Policy to Prevent Obesity

Policies designed to prevent obesity are based in a public health prevention model of disease prevention. Unlike public policies aimed at treating obesity (i.e., by reducing body mass index [BMI]), obesity prevention policies seek to stop people from becoming obese in the first place and to prevent people who are already overweight or obese from gaining more weight. Obesity prevention policies tend to focus on changing the “toxic” food and physical activity environment that contributes to obesity, such as making healthy foods less expensive and making it easier for people to engage in physical activity (e.g., installing bike paths for commuters).

Awareness of obesity as a public health problem has increased along with public support for obesity prevention policies.

A prevention, rather than treatment, model for obesity is supported by data that suggest that long-term weight loss is unrealistic and highly improbable for most people. Furthermore, there are significant hazards in using drugs or surgery to treat obesity. Given that obesity results in high social costs, associated diseases (e.g., diabetes), and early mortality, and that obesity will account for increasingly larger healthcare costs over time, many public health experts believe it may be the best use of public resources to focus on policies that will prevent obesity.

Obesity prevention policies exist in the private sector and at all levels of government. In the private sector, many workplaces have sponsored healthy living initiatives that incorporate policies to prevent obesity in their employees, such as reducing the prices of healthy foods in their cafeterias, building exercise facilities, and subsidizing gym memberships. It is not known how many private corporations support wellness and obesity prevention programs. However, there are data that support the fact that corporations only receive a return on their investment (in the form of lower healthcare costs) only over the long term. Therefore, companies with high employee turnover and businesses with fewer employees are less likely to implement workplace wellness and obesity prevention policies.

The federal government's obesity policies tend to focus more on weight reduction than prevention of future weight gain. It is estimated that there are over 300 programs related to obesity within the purview of the federal government, many of which are concerned with public education, such as the MyPyramid program through the U. S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC's) VERB youth media campaign designed to encourage physical activity in adolescents.

Although at the federal level, the obesity objectives outlined by the U. S. Public Health Service were given to the Department of Health and Human Services (DHSS), the actual implementation of these programs were scattered across at least nine federal agencies, such as the CDC, USDA, and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Critics of the federal government's approach to obesity prevention have highlighted the lack of concentrated and consistent leadership on this critical public health issue. An additional barrier regarding implementation of obesity prevention policies at the federal level concerns the lack of funding. Some [Page 613]estimate that the United States spends less than an average of $3.00 per citizen on obesity prevention [figure is from 2007], which some argue is inadequate given the increasing enormity and gravity of the problem.

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