Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-l7hp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T22:48:03.190Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Legal Preparedness for Obesity Prevention and Control: The Public Health Framework for Action

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2021

William H. Dietz  and
Alicia S. Hunter
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has focused its obesity prevention and control efforts on improving population-level health. A recent Institute of Medicine report identified systems that affect population health, to include health care delivery systems, schools, businesses and employers, communities, and governmental public health infrastructure. CDC uses the public health model to engage these systems, and this process coordinates multiple settings, sectors, and jurisdictions to develop an integrated approach to identify, prevent, and control obesity. The public health approach goes beyond medical care to prioritize policy and environmental strategies that can be implemented across jurisdictional levels, in collaboration with traditional and nontraditional partners. The process ultimately produces tools, guidelines, and interventions that can be used to prevent and control obesity. In this manuscript, we provide an overview of the public health perspective on obesity, outline the public health framework for addressing obesity, and discuss the rationale for leveraging law-based efforts as a tool to accomplish the public health mission.

Type
JLME Supplement
Information
Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics , Volume 37 , Issue S1 , Summer 2009 , pp. 9 - 14
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Law, Medicine and Ethics 2009

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.)

References

Schaeffer, L. D. Schultz, A. M., and Salerno, J. A., eds., HHS in the 21st Century: Charting a New Course for a Healthy America, Institute of Medicine, Washington, D.C., 2008.Google Scholar
Ogden, C. L. Carroll, M. D. McDowell, M. A., and Flegal, K. M., Obesity among Adults in the United States – No Statistically Significant Change since 2003–2004, National Center for Health Statistics Data Brief, 2007, available at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db01.pdf (last visited January 28, 2009).Google Scholar
Ogden, C. L. Carroll, M. D., and Flegal, K. M., “High Body Mass Index for Age among U.S. Children and Adolescents, 2003–2006,” JAMA 299, no. 20 (2008): 2401–2405.Google Scholar
See Ogden, et al. , supra note 2Google Scholar
See Ogden, et al. , supra note 3.Google Scholar
Eaton, D. K. Kann, L. Kinchen, S. Shanklin, S. Ross, J. Hawkins, J. Harris, W. A. Lowry, R. McManus, T. Chyen, D. Lim, C. Brener, N. D., and Wechsler, H., “Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance United States, 2007,” Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 57, no. SS04 (2008): 1–131.http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db01.pdfGoogle Scholar
Arkansas Center for Health Improvement, “Year Five Assessment of Childhood and Adolescent Obesity in Arkansas,” ACHI, Little Rock, AR, September 2008.Google Scholar
Personal communication from Hoelscher, D., to author Dietz, William H., (April 11, 2008).Google Scholar
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, The Surgeon General's Call to Action to Prevent And Decrease Overweight and Obesity, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Office of the Surgeon General, Rockville, MD, 2001.Google Scholar
Freedman, D. S. Mei, Z. Srinivasan, S. R. Berenson, G. S., and Dietz, W. H., “Cardiovascular Risk Factors and Excess Adiposity among Overweight Children and Adolescents: The Bogalusa Heart Study,” Journal of Pediatrics, 150 no. 1 (2007): 12–17.Google Scholar
Thorpe, K. E. Florence, C. S. Howard, D. H., and Joski, P., “The Impact of Obesity on the Rise in Medical Spending,” Health Affairs Web Exclusive (2004): W4–480–486.http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db01.pdfGoogle Scholar
Gortmaker, S. L. Must, A. Perrin, J. M. Sobol, A. M., and Dietz, W. H., “Social and Economic Consequences of Overweight in Adolescence and Young Adulthood,” New England Journal of Medicine, 329 no. 14 (1993): 1008–1012.Google Scholar
International Food Information Council, Global Trends in Obesity Related Media Coverage, at chart slide, available at http://www.ific.org/research/upload/Global-Obesity-Related-Media-Coverage-Q3-2008-blk.pdf (last visited February 17, 2009).Google Scholar
CDC, “Achievements in Public Health, 1900–1999: Tobacco Use – United States, 1900–1999,” Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Review, 48 no. 43 (1999): 986–993.Google Scholar
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, “2008 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans,” 2008, available at http://www.health.gov/PAGuidelines/guidelines (last visited February 17, 2009).Google Scholar
Id.Google Scholar
Katz, D. L., M. O'Connell, Yeh, M. Nawaz, H. Njike, V. Anderson, L. M. Cory, S., and Dietz, W. H., “Public Health Strategies for Preventing and Controlling Overweight and Obesity in School and Worksite Settings: A Report on Recommendations of the Task Force on Community Preventive Services,” Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 54, no. RR10 (October 7, 2005): 1–12.Google Scholar
S. Ip, Chung, M. Raman, G. Chew, P. Magula, N. DeVine, D. Trikalinos, T., and Lau, J., “Breastfeeding and Maternal and Infant Health Outcomes in Developed Countries. Evidence Report/Technology Assessment, No. 153,” AHRQ Publication No. 07-E007, April 2007.Google Scholar
Shealy, K. R. Li, R. Benton-Davis, S., and Grummer-Strawn, L. M., The CDC Guide to Breastfeeding Interventions, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, 2005.Google Scholar
Rolls, B. J. Roe, L. S. Beach, A. M., and Kris-Etherton, P. M., “Provision of Food Differing in Energy Density Affects Long Term Weight Loss,” Obesity Research, 13 no. 6 (2005): 1052–1060.Google Scholar
Personal communication from Marcus Plescia to author Dietz, William H., (June 5, 2007).Google Scholar
Kaiser Permanente, “Community Health Initiatives: Improving the Health of the Communities We Serve,” available at http://info.kp.org/communitybenefit/our_work_3_d.html (last visited February 17, 2009).Google Scholar
Bassett, M. T. Dumanovsky, T. Huang, C. Silver, L. D. Young, C. Nonas, C. Matte, T. D. Chideya, S., and Frieden, T. R., “Purchasing Behavior and Calorie Information at Fastfood Chains in New York City, 2007,” American Journal of Public Health, 98 no. 8 (2008): 1457–1459.Google Scholar
Board of Health, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Amendment 81.50 to Article 81 of the New York City Health, available at http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/downloads/pdf/public/notice-intention-hc-art81-50-1007.pdf (last visited February 17, 2009).Google Scholar
Wang, Y. C. Bleich, S. N., and Gortmaker, S. L., “Increasing Caloric Contribution from Sugar-Sweetened Beverages and 100% Fruit Juices among U.S. Children and Adolescents, 1988–2004,” Pediatrics, 121 no. 6 (2008): e1604–e1614.Google Scholar
Alliance for a Healthier Generation, “Understanding the Alliance Food Beverage Guidelines,” available at http://www.healthiergeneration.org/media.aspx (last visited February 17, 2009).Google Scholar
Holt, D. J. Ippolito, P. M. Desrochers, D. M., and Kelley, C.R., Children's Exposure to TV Advertising in 1977 and 2004: Information for the Obesity Debate, Federal Trade Commission Bureau of Economics Staff Report, June 1, 2007, available at http://www.ftc.gov/os/2007/06/cabecolor.pdf (last visited February 17, 2009).Google Scholar
Kaiser Family Foundation, New Study Finds Children Age Zero to Six Spend As Much Time with TV, Computers and Video Games as Playing Outside, Press Release, 2003, available at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/health_cast/hcast_index.cfm?display=detail&hc=1006 (last visited February 17, 2009).Google Scholar
Dietz, W. H. Gortmaker, S. L., “Do We Fatten Our Children at the TV Set?” Pediatrics, 75 no. 5 (1985): 807–812.Google Scholar
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Treatment of Obesity: MLN: MM3502, 2004, available at http://www.cms.hhs.gov/MLN-MattersArticles/downloads/MM3502.pdf (last visited February 17, 2009).Google Scholar
Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina, Benefits Management Briefs 10, no. 4 (Winter 2005), available at http://www.bcbsnc.com/employers/bmb/bmb-archive-2005.cfm (last visited February 17, 2009).Google Scholar
National Committee for Quality Assurance, HEDIS® Measures and Programs, available at http://www.ncqa.org/tabid/59/Default.aspx (last visited February 17, 2009).Google Scholar
Some researchers and program officials discuss daycare and childcare activities within the schools, or alternatively, community-based settings. For purposes of this paper, we hae separated the two issues.Google Scholar
N.Y.C. Health Code § 47.36 (2008), available at http://24.97.137.100/nyc/ and http://www.frac.org/pdf/nyc_cacfp_childcare_nutrphysact_law.pdf (last visited February 17, 2009).Google Scholar
CDC, Division of Adolescent and School Health, School Health Policies and Programs Study, 2006, available at http://www.cdc.gov/HealthyYouth/SHPPS/ (last visited February 17, 2009).Google Scholar
“Licensing Regulations Governing Pinellas County Children's Centers January 2008,”,Pinellas County License Board for Children's Cetners and Family Day Care Homes, at 41, available at http://www.pinellashealth.com/PCLB/PDFfiles/C_Manual1REGS.pdf (last visited April 13, 2009).Google Scholar
Florida State Code § 1003.455 (2008), available at http://www.flsenate.gov/Statutes/ (last visited February 17, 2009).Google Scholar
CDC, Healthier Worksite Initiative, available at http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/hwi/index.htm (last visited February 17, 2009).Google Scholar
Kerr, N. A. Yore, M. M. Ham, S. A., and Dietz, W. H., “Increasing Stair Use in a Worksite through Environmental Changes,” American Journal of Health Promotion, 18 no. 4 (2004): 312–315.Google Scholar
Economos, C. A. Hyatt, R. R. Goldberg, J. P. Must, A. Naumova, E. N. Collins, J. J., and Nelson, M. E., “A Community Intervention Reduces BMI Z-Score in Children,” Obesity, 15 no. 5 (2007): 1325–1336.Google Scholar
Green, L., and Ottoson, J. M., From Clinical Trials to Community: The Science of Translating Diabetes and Obesity Research, National Institutes of Health, 2004.Google Scholar