Letter From The Director
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Greetings!
As we officially enter into the holiday season, the battle against overweight and obesity gets even tougher. The rich and plentiful foods available at holiday parties create no shortage of temptation. Meanwhile, late nights at the office as we rush to meet those end-of-year deadlines can lead us to grab quick meals on the go.
The season is a reminder of our nation's weighty battle, which becomes more problematic when you factor in the weight-related health risks, like diabetes and heart disease.
With both American Diabetes Month and the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions taking place this month, there are certain research highlights that are of significance.
Take the recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data which notes that the rate of new diabetes cases in the United States nearly doubled in the past ten years. Furthermore, the research indicates that about 90 percent of these cases are Type 2 diabetes, which is nearly always attributable to overweight and obesity.
In addition to this, data from the 2008 AHA Scientific Sessions revealed that overweight children are beginning to show subtle but important changes in their hearts and arteries, placing them at risk for conditions including acute myocardial infarction, stroke and atrial fibrillation. That means that the compounded health impacts of obesity are starting earlier, and affecting patients over a longer period of time.
As a nation, we've punted responsibility on this growing health problem for years. But, today, amid troubling economic uncertainty, there is new urgency. Overweight and obesity increasingly is the gateway to chronic illnesses like diabetes and hypertension - diseases that require significant care, and come with a hefty price tag.
Patients, healthcare providers, employers, labor, government and insurance providers will all continue to be affected by the tremendous burden of this epidemic. Moreover, without smart, creative and collaborative efforts to take on this health crisis, it will no doubt continue to be a major contributor to our nation's economic woes.
Every time we enter into an economic downturn, we always hear the same cliché: it's time to tighten our belts.
It looks like this time; we might have to take that advice literally.
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Sincerely,
Christine C. Ferguson, JD
Director, The STOP Obesity Alliance
Associate Research Professor
School of Public Health and Health Services
Department of Health Policy
The George Washington University |
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Alliance Steering Committee Member News
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STOP Obesity Alliance Welcomes Partnership for Prevention to Steering Committee
This month, the Alliance welcomed Partnership for Prevention to its Steering Committee. Partnership for Prevention is a membership organization of businesses, nonprofit organizations and government agencies advancing policies and practices to prevent disease and improve the health of all Americans. The partnership seeks to increase investment in preventing disease and promoting health and to make prevention a national priority. The Alliance looks forward to working with Partnership for Prevention on projects moving forward!
America's Health Insurance Plans Releases White Paper on Challenge of Unhealthy Weight and Monograph on Prevention, Wellness & Risk Reduction Innovations
AHIP's recently-released white paper, "Facing the Challenge of Unhealthy Weight: Recommendations for the Health Care Community," offers several recommendations and examines promising programs that health insurance plans and clinicians have developed in collaboration with community partners to encourage body mass index (BMI) screening and address the obesity epidemic. The recommendations are based on the work of the AHIP Expert Panel on Obesity and Related Screening Measures to Improve Health and meetings sponsored by the AHIP Obesity Initiative. Recommendations include making routine BMI screening and interpretation a standard clinical practice; connecting BMI screening to evidence-based prevention and treatment options; and building partnerships and disseminating promising practices among health plans, physicians and clinicians, employers and community groups.
AHIP also released a monograph, "Innovations in Prevention, Wellness and Risk Reduction," that highlights innovative health insurance plan programs which emphasize disease prevention. The monograph includes descriptions of 40 innovative health plan programs as well as insightful essays by five noted experts who explore the reasons why the related challenges of prevention, wellness and risk reduction for chronic disease require both innovative and comprehensive responses.
National Business Group on Health to Hold 22nd National Conference on Health, Productivity & Human Capital December 8-10, 2008
The National Business Group on Health's annual National Conference on Health, Productivity & Human Capital will take place in San Diego and aims to enable and encourage employers to establish the corporate culture necessary to address the daily challenges to their most pressing health and productivity management issues. The 2008 conference theme is "From Science to Solutions" focusing on innovative content and case studies, solutions-oriented scientific research, and quantitative results about programs that cross traditional benefits lines. On December 8, NBGH will host a workshop on "Managing Weight in the Workplace" where James Rippe, MD, Cardiologist, Professor Biomedical Sciences, University of Central Florida, will present a cardiologist's view of the power of at-work weight management programs in improving employees' health and productivity while lowering healthcare costs. |
Obesity-Related News
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Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity Develops Online Course to Educate Healthcare Professionals on Weight Bias
The Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University has developed an online course for healthcare professionals to help understand and avoid weight bias in their practice. "Weight Bias in Clinical Settings: Improving Health Care Delivery for Obese Patients" is accredited by the Yale School of Medicine. The course aims to increase awareness of the sources of weight bias in healthcare and provides a range of practical strategies to optimize the healthcare experience for overweight and obese patients. Click here for course descriptions and more information. |
News Round-Up
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| Study Puts a Total on Diabetes Cost: $218 Billion
Associated Press Newswires
November 19, 2008
A study done by the ADA suggests that as diabetes is rapidly becoming one of the world's most common diseases, its financial cost is mounting as well, reaching well over $200 billion a year in the U.S. alone. The study, conducted by the Lewin Group consultants, estimates costs to society for people known to have Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes at $174.4 billion combined, a total previously reported by Novo Nordisk. Novo Nordisk, which paid for the study, will present the data at a healthcare conference for corporate executives and then plans to publish a full report in a professional journal.
Lean Economy, Fatty Diet
Los Angeles Times.com
November 3, 2008
One might imagine that high food prices could put the nation on a diet as people, strapped for cash, tighten their belts and eat less. But many nutrition experts fear that soaring food prices will have the opposite effect - fatten up the nation. As the price of one food goes up, people not only buy less of it, but they also sometimes buy other, cheaper food in its place which tend to have more calories than those with a higher price tag. But despite the fact that a diet could easily get derailed during these lean economic times, it does not have to be that way. Researchers have studied consumers' behavior in situations where the prices of high-calorie foods stay constant but the prices of low-calorie foods go up (and vice versa). So, the weight of the evidence comes down like this - Hard times may make the obesity epidemic worse. And at the very least, they are unlikely to cure it.
October 28, 2008
While workers enroll in benefits plans this fall, benefit packages and other incentives are growing as employers seek to boost participation in company-sponsored wellness programs. Benefits experts predict another surge in popularity over the next year for wellness programs, even with a possible recession looming. Experts say the keys to program growth include strong incentives like cash or health insurance discounts coupled with company encouragement.
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| The Strategies to Overcome & Prevent Obesity Alliance is sponsored by sanofi-aventis U.S. LLC. |
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