New Directions in Obesity Prevention and Treatment: AcademyHealth 25th Annual Research Meeting Conference Report

Publication Date: October 2008

Publisher: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

Author(s):

Research Area: Health

Type: Report

Abstract:

Based in Washington, D.C., AcademyHealth is the professional home for health services researchers, policy analysts and practitioners, and a nonpartisan resource for health research and policy. The annual research meeting brings together health services researchers, providers and key decision-makers to address the critical challenges confronting the health care delivery system.

For the first time, AcademyHealth featured obesity prevention and treatment as one of the annual research meeting themes in 2008. Tracy Orleans, Ph.D., a distinguished fellow and senior scientist at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, co-chaired one of these sessions.

This report presents brief summaries of the 19 presentations in four obesity prevention and treatment sessions:

* Childhood Obesity: Implications for Health Services
* New Paradigms in Obesity Treatment and Prevention
* Costs and Consequences of Adult Obesity
* Restricting Food Marketing to Children: The Prospects for Obesity Prevention

During her presentation, Orleans noted that efforts to address the obesity epidemic require a new paradigm that focuses on changing the environments in communities to provide people access to healthy and affordable food and safe places for physical activity.