Bookmark & Share

Favorites	Google
Digg	Del.icio.us
Twitter	Facebook

>> More...

A coalition of health experts has penned a letter to President Barack Obama, asking him to create the Presidential Commission on Healthy Weights, Healthy Lives to address the nation's obesity epidemic, United Press International reports. Urging President Obama to "act boldly and promptly to reverse our nation's obesity epidemic," the experts contend that harnessing obesity "could be one of the most powerful means of improving Americans' health and reducing health care costs." Specifically, the experts suggest using the "broad and well-funded anti-obesity strategy" employed in the United Kingdom as a model for a similar U.S. effort. The experts further suggest that the creation of a presidential commission would help coordinate the efforts of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and other agencies dedicated to food and health policy to establish more comprehensive obesity prevention programs. Signatories to the letter include the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), American Diabetes Association, American Public Health Association, Partnership for Prevention, Shape Up America, Trust for America's Health, United Fresh Produce Association and several state-level organizations. Representatives from the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University, the Stanford Prevention Research Center, the Northwestern University Comprehensive Center on Obesity, and the University of North Carolina School of Public Health also endorsed the letter (UPI, 6/22/09; CSPI release, 6/22/09; Letter to President Obama, 6/22/09).