Hostname: page-component-669899f699-tpknm Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-05-01T23:46:12.273Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Actions Necessary to Prevent Childhood Obesity: Creating the Climate for Change

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2021

Marlene B. Schwartz  and
Kelly D. Brownell
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

After years of near total neglect, the problem of childhood obesity is now in the limelight. Terms like “epidemic,” “crisis,” and “emergency” are used frequently when describing the trend. Progress is defined with strong language (e.g., the need for a “war” on obesity) and fueled by statistics such as the observation that this generation of children will be the first to live shorter lives than their parents. Multi-disciplinary journals such as the Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics have dedicated symposiums to the issue, and conferences have been convened not only by health professionals but by government agencies, the food industry, and even professionals who market to children. The seriousness of childhood obesity is no longer in doubt, and finally attention has turned to the more complex question – what must be done?

Type
Symposium
Information
Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics , Volume 35 , Issue 1 , Spring 2007 , pp. 78 - 89
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Law, Medicine and Ethics 2007

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Olshansky, S. J., Passaro, D. R., Hershow, R. C., Layden, J., Carnes, B. A., and Brody, J. et al., “A Potential Decline in Life Expectancy in the United States in the 21st Century,” New England Journal of Medicine 352, no. 11 (2005): 1138–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brownell, K. D., “The Chronicling of Obesity: Growing Awareness of its Social, Economic, and Political Contexts” Journal of Health Politics, Policy, and Law 30 (2005): 995–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
NIEHS, “Environmental Solutions to Obesity in America's Youth, Educational Conference, Washington, D.C., 2005.Google Scholar
Schwartz, M., “The Food Environment and Childhood Obesity,” Kid's Nutrition (New Orleans, LA: Xchange, 2003).Google Scholar
Institute of Medicine, Preventing Childhood Obesity: Health in the Balance (Washington D.C.: National Academies Press, 2005); Crawford, D. and Jeffrey, R. W., eds., Obesity Prevention and Public Health (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005).Google Scholar
Mercer, S. L., Khan, L. K., Green, L. W., Rosenthal, A. C., Nathan, R., and Husten, C. G. et al., “Drawing Possible Lessons for Obesity Prevention and Control from the Tobacco Control Experience,” in Crawford, D. and Jeffrey, R. W., eds., Obesity Prevention and Public Health (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005): 231–63.Google Scholar
Federation of Tax Administrators, State Excise Tax Rates on Cigarettes, 2006, available at <http://www.taxadmin.org/FTA/rate/cigarett.html> (last visited November 15, 2006).+(last+visited+November+15,+2006).>Google Scholar
Kersh, R. and Marone, J., “The Politics of Obesity: Seven Steps to Government Action,” Health Affairs 21, no. 6 (2002): 142–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tilley, C., Social Movements, 1768–2004 (New York: Paradigm Publishers, 2004).Google Scholar
Brownell, K. D., Puhl, R. M., Schwartz, M. B., and Rudd, L., eds., Weight Bias: Nature, Consequences, and Remedies (New York: Guilford; 2005).Google Scholar
See Crawford, supra note 5.Google Scholar
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, SmallStep website, available at <http://www.smallstep.gov/> (last visited November 15, 2006); McDonald's, , “Food, Nutrition, and Fitness,” available at <http://www.mcdonalds.com/usa/eat.html> (last visited November 15, 2006). (last visited November 15, 2006).' href=https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=U.S.+Department+of+Health+and+Human+Services,+SmallStep+website,+available+at++(last+visited+November+15,+2006);+McDonald's,+,+“Food,+Nutrition,+and+Fitness,”+available+at++(last+visited+November+15,+2006).>Google Scholar
Lakoff, G., Don't Think of an Elephant: Know Your Values and Frame the Debate (White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green Publishing, 2004).Google Scholar
Brownell, K. D. and Horgen, K. B., Food Fight (New York: Contemporary Books, 2004).Google Scholar
See IOM, supra note 5.Google Scholar
See Brownwell, , Horgen, supra note 14.Google Scholar
Schwartz, M. B. and Puhl, R. M., “Childhood Obesity: A Societal Problem to Solve,” Obesity Reviews 4 (2003): 57–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rolls, B., “Sensory-Specific Satiety,” Nutrition Reviews 44 (1986): 93–101.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wansink, B., “Environmental Factors that Increase the Food Intake and Consumption Volume of Unknowing Customers,” Annual Review of Nutrition 24 (2004):455–79; see Schwartz, , Puhl, supra note 17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schlosser, E., Fast Food Nation (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2001).Google Scholar
Young, L. R. and Nestle, M., “The Contribution of Expanding Portion Sizes to the U.S. Obesity Epidemic,” American Journal of Public Health 92 (2002): 246–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
National Restaurant Association, “Restaurant Industry Facts,” available at <http://www.restaurant.org/research/ind_glance.cfm> (last visited November 15, 2006).+(last+visited+November+15,+2006).>Google Scholar
French, S. A., Harnack, L., and Jeffery, R. W., “Fast Food Restaurant Use among Young Women in the Pound of Prevention Study: Dietary, Behavioral, and Demographic Correlates,” International Journal of Obesity and Related Metabolic Disorders 24 (2000): 1353–9; Jeffery, R. W. and French, S., “Epidemic Obesity in the United States: Are Fast Foods and Television Viewing Contributing?” American Journal of Public Health 88 (1998): 277–80; Zoumas-Morse, C., Rock, C. L., Sobo, E. J., and Neuhouser, M. L., “Children's Patterns of Macronutrient Intake and Associations with Restaurant and Home Eating,” Journal of the American 101 (2001): 923–5; Gillman, M. W., Rifas-Shiman, S. L., Frazier, A. L., Rockett, H. R., Camargo, C. A. J., and Field, A. E. et al., “Family Dinner and Diet Quality among Older Children and Adolescents,” Archives of Family Medicine 9 (2000): 235–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Drewnowski, A. and Darmon, N., “The Economics of Obesity: Dietary Energy Density and Energy Cost,” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 82, no. 1 (2005): 265S–73S; Drewnowski, A. and Specter, S. E., “Poverty and Obesity: The Role of Energy Density and Energy Costs,” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 79 (2004): 136–171.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nestle, M., Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2002).Google Scholar
Linn, S., Consuming Kids: The Hostile Takeover of Childhood (New York: The New Press, 2004).Google Scholar
Elinder, L. S., “Obesity, Hunger, and Agriculture: The Damaging Role of Subsidies,” British Medical Journal 331 (2005):1333–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pollan, M., The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals (New York: Penguin Press, 2006).Google Scholar
McGinnis, J., “The Public Health Burden of a Sedentary Lifestyle,” Medical Science and Sports Exercise 24, Supplement 6 (1992): S196–S200; Salmon, J. and King, A. C., “Population Approaches to Increasing Physical Activity among Children and Adults,” in Crawford, D. and Jeffrey, R. W., eds., Obesity Prevention and Public Health (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005).Google Scholar
See Brownwell, and Horgen, supra note 14.Google Scholar
See McGinnis, supra note 29.Google Scholar
Ravussin, E., Valencia, M., Esparza, J., Bennett, P., and Schultz, L., “Effects of a Traditional Lifestyle on Obesity in Pima Indians,” Diabetes Care 17 (1994): 1067–74; Lindsay, R., Cook, V., Hanson, R., Salbe, A., Tataranni, A., and Knowler, W., “Early Excess Weight Gain of Children in the Pima Indian Population,” Pediatrics 109 (2002): E33; Schulz, L. O., Bennett, P. H., Ravussin, E., Kidd, J. R., Kidd, K. K., and Esparza, J. et al., “Effects of Traditional and Western Environments on Prevalence of Type 2 Diabetes in Pima Indians in Mexico and the U.S.,” Diabetes Care 29 (2006):1866–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bhatnagar, D., Durrington, P. H., Patel, D. J., Wander, G. S., Mackness, M. I., Creed, F., Tomenson, B., Chandrashekhar, Y., and Winterbotham, M., “Coronary Risk Factors in People from the Indian Subcontinent Living in West London and their Siblings in India,” Lancet 345 (1995): 405–9.Google Scholar
Balada, F., Sanchis, D., Virgili, J., Grasa, M. M., Monserrat, C., and Fernandez-Lopez, J. A. et al., “Effect of the Slimming Agent Oleoyl-Estrone in Liposomes on the Body Weight of Rats Fed a Cafeteria Diet,” Archives of Physiology & Biochemistry 105, no. 5 (1997): 487–95; Northway, M.G., Morris, M., Geisinger, K. R., and MacLean, D. B., “Effects of a Gastric Implant on Body Weight and Gastrointestinal Hormones in Cafeteria Diet Obese Rats,” Physiology & Behavior 45, no. 2 (1989): 331–5; Gianotti, M. and Roca, P., Palou, A., “Body Weight and Tissue Composition in Rats Made Obese by a Cafeteria Diet: Effect of 24 Hours Starvation,” Hormone & Metabolic Research 20, no. 4 (1988): 208–12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
See Brownwell, and Horgen, supra note 14.Google Scholar
Hedley, A. A., Ogden, C. L., Johnson, C. L., Carroll, M. D., Curtin, L. R., and Flegal, K. M., “Prevalence of Overweight and Obesity among U.S. Children, Adolescents, and Adults, 1999–2002,” JAMA 291, no. 23 (2004): 2847–50; Flegal, K., Ogden, C., Wei, R., Kuczmarski, R., and Johnson, C., “Prevalence of Overweight in U.S. Children: Comparison of U.S. Growth Charts from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention with other Reference Values for Body Mass Index,” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 73 (2001): 1086–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brownell, K. D. and Horgen, K. B. supra note 14.Google Scholar
Drewnowski, A. and Darmon, N., “The Economics of Obesity: Dietary Energy Density and Energy Cost,” supra note 24; Drewnowski, A. and Specter, S. E., “Poverty and Obesity: The Role of Energy Density and Energy Costs,” supra note 24.Google Scholar
Drewnowski, A., “Fat and Sugar: An Economic Analysis,” Journal of Nutrition 133, no. 3 (2003): 838S–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schwartz, M. B., Vartanian, L. R., Nosek, B. A., and Brownell, K. D., “The Influence of One's Own Body Weight on Implicit and Explicit Anti-Fat Bias,” Obesity 14, no. 3 (2006): 440–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Youth Risk Surveillance Study United States 2005,” Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 55 (2006): 1–108.Google Scholar
Thompson, J. K., Herbozo, S., Himes, S., and Yamamiya, Y., “Effects of Weight-related Teasing in Adults,” in Brownell, K. D., Puhl, R. M., Schwartz, M. B. and Rudd, L., eds., Weight Bias: Nature, Consequences, and Remedies (New York: Guilford, 2005): at 137–49; Sobal, J., “Social Consequences of Weight Bias by Partners, Friends, and Strangers,” in id., at 150–64.Google Scholar
Latner, J. and Schwartz, M. B., “Weight Bias in a Child's World,” in Brownell, K. D., Puhl, R. M., Schwartz, M. B., and Rudd, L., eds., Weight Bias: Nature, Consequences, and Remedies (New York: Guilford, 2005): at 54–67; Neumark-Sztainer, D. and Eisenberg, M. E., “Weight Bias in a Teen's World,” in id, at 68–79.Google Scholar
Crocker, J. and Garcia, J. A., “Self-Esteem and the Stigma of Obesity,” in id., at 165–74; supra note 10.Google Scholar
Fikkan, J. and Rothblum, E., “Weight Bias in Employment,” in Brownell, K. D., Puhl, R. M., Schwartz, M. B., and Rudd, L., eds., Weight Bias: Nature, Consequences, and Remedies (New York: Guilford, 2005): at 15–28.Google Scholar
Fabricatore, A. N., Wadden, T. A., and Foster, G. D., “Bias in Health Care Settings.” in id., at 29–41.Google Scholar
Puhl, R. and Brownell, K. D., “Bias, Discrimination, and Obesity,” Obesity Research 9, no. 12 (2001): 788–805.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eisenberg, M. E., Neumark-Sztainer, D., and Story, M., “Associations of Weight-based Teasing and Emotional Well-being among Adolescents,” Archives of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine 157 (2003): 733–8; Puhl, R., Moss-Racusin, C., and Schwartz, M. B., “Internalization of Weight Bias: Implications for Binge Eating and Emotional Wellbeing,” Obesity Research 15, in press; Neumark-Sztainer, D., Falkner, N., Story, M., Perry, C., Hannan, P. J., and Mulert, S., “Weight-Teasing among Adolescents: Correlations with Weight Status and Disordered Eating Behaviors,” International Journal of Obesity 26 (2002): 123–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crandall, C. S. and Reser, A. H., “Attributions and Weight-based Prejudice,” in Brownell, K. D., Puhl, R. M., Schwartz, M. B., and Rudd, L., eds., Weight Bias: Nature, Consequences, and Remedies (New York: Guilford, 2005): at 83–96.Google Scholar
Crandall, C. S., D'Anello, S., Sakalli, N., Lazarus, E., Nejtartdt, G. W., and Feather, N. T., “An Attribution-value Model of Prejudice: Anti-Fat Attitudes in Six Nations,” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 27 (2001): 30–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harrell, J. P., Hall, S., and Taliaferro, J., “Physiological Responses to Racism and Discrimination: An Assessment of the Evidence,” American Journal of Public Health 93, no. 2 (2003): 243–8; see Brownell, et al., supra note 10.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Epstein, L. H., “Development of Evidence-based Treatments for Pediatric Obesity,” in Kazdin, E. A. and Weisz, J. R., eds., Evidence-based Psychotherapies for Children and Adolescents (New York, Guilford Press, 2003): at 374–388; Epstein, L. and Squires, S., The Stoplight Diet for Children: An Eight-week Program for Parents and Children (New York: Little Brown & Co, 1988).Google Scholar
Baranowski, T., Baranowski, J., Cullen, K. W., Marsh, T., Islam, N., and Zakeri, I. et al., “Squire's Quest! Dietary Outcome Evaluation of a Multimedia Game,” American Journal of Preventive Medicine 24, no. 1 (2003): 52–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Interview with Marion Nestle, Frontline: Diet Wars 2004, Public Broadcasting Station (December 10, 2003), available at <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/diet/interviews/nestle.html> (last visited January 17, 2007).+(last+visited+January+17,+2007).>Google Scholar
See Brownwell, and Horgen, supra note 14.Google Scholar
See Wansink, supra note 19.Google Scholar
Friedland, A., “School Nutrition Innovators,” Food Management website, available at <http://www.food-management.com/article/5799> (last visited November 20, 2006).+(last+visited+November+20,+2006).>Google Scholar
See Brownwell, and Horgen, supra note 14; Wansink, supra note 19.Google Scholar
Leichter, H. M., “‘Evil Habits’ and ‘Personal Choices’: Assigning Responsiblity for Health in the 20th Century,” The Milbank Quarterly 81, no. 4 (2003): 603–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ross, L., “The Intuitive Psychologist and his Shortcomings,” in Berkowitz, L., ed., Advances in Experimental and Social Psychology (New York: Academic Press, 1977).Google Scholar
State News Service, “First Lady Urges Parents and School Personnel to Become Better Educated on Food Allergies,” September 29, 2005, Lexus Nexus.Google Scholar
Bridgman, A., “A Mom Takes On School Food Policies,” Parents Action for Children, What Matters Most Ezine, available at <http://www.parentsaction.org/news/what-matters-most-ezine-archive/what-matters-most-ezine-060323/index.cfm#item1> (last visited November 20, 2006); Stephen, J., “Sulky, Lazy, Petulant and That's the Parents,” Mail on Sunday March 13, 2005, at Section 73; Prince, R., “It's the Parents, Stupid: Good Eating Begins at Home,” Independent on Sunday, April 3, 2005, at Section 14; Davenport, P., “Ban on School Junk Food Eeks out of House Committee,” The Associated Press State & Local Wire, February 9, 2005.Google Scholar
See IOM, supra note 5.Google Scholar
Puska, P., Vartiainen, E., Tuomilehto, J., Salomaa, V., and Nissinen, A., “Changes in Premature Deaths in Finland: Successful Long-term Prevention of Cardiovascular Diseases,” Bull World Health Organ 76, no. 4 (1998): 419–25.Google Scholar
Shea, S. and Basch, C., “A Review of Five Major Community-based Cardiovascular Disease Prevention Programs. Part II: Intervention Strategies, Evaluation Methods, and Results,” American Journal of Health Promotion 4, no. 4 (1990): 279–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Puska, P., Nissinen, A., Tuomilehto, J., Salonen, J. T., Koskela, K., and McAlister, A. et al., “The Community-based Strategy to Prevent Coronary Heart Disease: Conclusions from the Ten Years of the North Karelia Project,” Annual Review of Public Health 6, no. 1 (1985): 147–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Action for Healthy Kids website, available at <http://www.actionforhealthykids.org> (last visited November 21, 2006).+(last+visited+November+21,+2006).>Google Scholar
Teachman, B. A., Schwartz, M. B., Gordic, B. S., and Coyle, B. S., Helping Your Child Overcome an Eating Disorder: What You Can Do at Home (Oakland, CA: New Harbinger; 2003).Google Scholar