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Purchasing healthy foods on a budget can be a challenge. And fresh fruits and vegetables may not be available in all neighborhoods. When food competes with covering other basic household expenses like rent or mortgage, medical bills, or transportation to work, families have to make tough choices. And that sometimes means sacrificing quality and nutrition for what is convenient and least expensive.  

Feeding America, the nation’s leading domestic hunger-relief charity, reports that hunger is increasing: their organization is now annually providing food to 37 million Americans, including 14 million children. And although it may seem contradictory at first glance, hunger and obesity can both occur in the same child, family, or community.

A recent Huffington Post article, “Hunger Obesity and Innovation in the Emergency Food System” points out that “following a 30-40 percent rise in people visiting food pantries since the recession, food banks have become a strategic point of opportunity to improve the health of poor families.” But it can be difficult for food banks, which rely almost entirely on food donations, to provide healthy options like fresh produce and whole grains. So how do we overcome the economic and logistical barriers to getting healthier foods into food banks?

One answer is collaboration. The Huffington Post author highlights the California partnership between MAZON and Kaiser Permanente called Healthy Options, Healthy Meals. In this partnership, collaboration is key. MAZON brings healthy eating and nutritional education specific to the state’s emergency food programs to Kaiser Permanente’s eight patient regions; Kaiser then utilizes its network of healthcare professionals to support food bank program and policy changes.

Another example of this kind of successful partnership can be found in the Let’s Move! Detroit community‘s Green Ribbon Collaborative. Featured on the Let’s Move! Blog, the Green Ribbon Collaborative coordinates efforts among the Gleaners Community Food Bank, the Green of Detroit’s Urban Agriculture program, the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation (DEGC) and the Fair Food Network. The agricultural partners provide 20 pounds of fresh produce to residents at a minimal price, and, in turn, Gleaners Community Food Bank arranges for distribution to Detroit’s east side.

Collaborative, community-based solutions like these are critical in addressing both the rising hunger and obesity rates across the county. Emergency food systems and food banks demonstrate a critical point of opportunity for healthcare professionals to improve child and family nutrition. By partnering with local businesses and existing organizations, healthcare professionals can have a lasting impact on the health of their communities.

• Feeding America
  http://feedingamerica.org/default.aspx
• Huffington Post Article: “Hunger Obesity and Innovation in the Emergency Food System” 
  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nicole-skibola/hunger-obesity-and-innova_b_830447.html
• Healthy Options, Healthy Meals
  http://mazon.org/about/about-our-grantmaking/hohm/
• Let's Move! Blog: "Inspiration Found in Let's Move! Detroit"
  http://www.letsmove.gov/blog/2011/03/17/inspiration-found-in-let%E2%80%99s-move-detroit/
• Sesame Street’s Food For Thought: Eating Well On A Budget—Resources for Providers
  http://www.sesamestreet.org/parents/food/providers

The Be Our Voice project site in Mississippi was mentioned in a 12/10/10 article in The Clarion-Ledger (MS). Dr. Gerri Cannon-Smith, the BOV project lead, was interviewed about her thoughts on having Patrick House, the most recent winner of NBC’s The Biggest Loser, volunteer as a spokesperson for childhood obesity awareness in Mississippi.

Download the entire article here: http://www.nichq.org/advocacy/advocacy documents/121910ClarionLedger.pdf

It’s no secret that Americans struggle to get their two or more fruit servings and three or more vegetables servings per day. In fact, the latest CDC statistics from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System show that only 32.5% of adults are eating the recommended daily servings of fruit and only 26.3% are eating the daily recommended servings of vegetables. But what are concerned individuals to do? In the end, unhealthy snacks are just more readily available and cheaper for adults and kids than are healthy snacks.

Some private companies are out to change that imbalance. The Wall Street Journal Health Blog reported last Halloween that A Bunch of Carrot Farmers™ (led by Bolthouse Farms) launched an ambitious campaign to rebrand baby carrots. The “Eat 'Em Like Junk Food” campaign was taken nationwide with the release of Scarrots, “a new kind of Halloween treat.” Carrots came in mini-packages and included glow-in-the-dark tattoos. But did kids go for it? "We've been blown away by the response to this campaign," said Jeff Dunn, chief executive officer, Bolthouse Farms. The company is following up the success of Scarrots with Super Bowl-themed packaging. More pictures and information can be found on their website, BabyCarrots.com. And if this packaging is not available in your area, the website offers a place where you can write Bolthouse Farms and “tell [them] why [they] should bring ‘em to your city.”

But carrots aren’t the only thing getting a makeover in the snack world. As the Wall Street Journal reported last October, “Fresh Del Monte Produce and a vending-machine maker, the Wittern Group, collaborated on a machine specially engineered to dispense fresh-cut fruits and veggies — even easily bruised bananas.” The machine—which went on the market in 2010—has two temperature zones. The top is loaded with bananas kept at about 57 degrees. The bottom zone—kept at about 34 degrees—holds packages of fresh-cut fruit and vegetables. The vending machine is already in some schools and sells for more than $5,000 compared to about $3,000 for a typical machine.

And even though adults seem more reluctant to pick fruits and veggies over chips and soda, recent research shows that children may be more likely to choose healthy snacks as long as the packaging features familiar cartoon characters. Using characters to market healthy foods was perhaps more prevalent in the pop culture of years past (remember Popeye and his spinach?), but it’s seeing a comeback today in characters like those from Veggie Tales. Of course, the implications of character marketing to kids make some parents and experts uncomfortable, which is why fun packaging like the kind used for these baby carrots—that doesn’t feature popular cartoon characters—is being met with such applause.

In the end, every child may not be getting the recommended daily servings of fruit and veggies yet, but innovations like these may help combat the stereotype that snacks have to be unhealthy to be fun and tasty.

Pushing Fruits and Veggies With Junk Food Tactics
http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2010/10/21/pushing-fruits-and-veggies-with-junk-food-tactics/?blog_id=10&post_id=42555

The Great Banana Challenge—How to Dispense Healthy Snacks From A Vending Machine
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303550904575562480804057778.html

State-Specific Trends in Fruit and Vegetable Consumption Among Adults --- United States, 2000-2009
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5935a1.htm?s_cid=mm5935a1_w

Influence of Licensed Characters on Children's Taste and Snack Preferences
http://www.yaleruddcenter.org/resources/upload/docs/what/advertising/LicensedCharacters_Pediatrics_7.10.pdf

According to the New York Times, on Thursday, January 20, Wal-Mart announced a five year plan to drop prices on fruits and vegetables and to make thousands of its packaged foods lower in unhealthy salts, fats and sugars. The move represents a big step forward in addressing the affordability of healthy food in America.

While other national companies—like ConAgra—have promised similar reductions in unhealthy ingredients, Wal-Mart has much more influence over the market as a whole since it is the largest retailer in the United States. Wal-Mart “sells more groceries than any other company in the country” and is one of the largest purchasers of foods produced by national suppliers. Michael Jacobson, Executive Director of Center for Science in the Public Interest, describes Wal-Mart as being “in a position almost like the Food and Drug Administration” in terms of influence on the American food industry. The company’s five year plan is not only a great starting point for testing pricing strategies, it’s also a move that will likely push the major food suppliers it does business with—like Kraft—to follow a similar approach.

However, Wal-Mart’s plan is not without its caveats. According to Mr. Jacobson, “The company’s proposed sugar reductions are ‘much less aggressive’ than they could be” and “[Wal-Mart] is not proposing to tackle the problem of added sugars in soft drinks, which experts regard as a major contributor to childhood obesity.” The five year timeline is also much less aggressive than most experts would like.

There is also the question of accountability and holding hold Wal-Mart to its promises. According to the New York Times, The Partnership for a Healthier America  “will monitor the company’s progress” as it implements its plan. Still, the changes will not go into effect immediately and, while Wal-Mart has been specific about its goals for reducing unhealthy ingredients by 2015, it has been vague about a timeline for rolling out the pricing reductions on fruits and vegetables.

The company is receiving attention for its plan from high places—First Lady Michelle Obama has publicly thrown her support behind their initiative. Mrs. Obama’s support of Wal-Mart is seen as “a prominent effort by the administration to spur further moves toward healthier food.”

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has made using pricing strategies to promote healthy food one of its 6 policy priorities for reversing childhood obesity by 2015. And although Wal-Mart’s five year plan is in imperfect in its details, it has already successfully accomplished one goal of childhood obesity advocates: help push the national discussion about pricing disparities and strategies to the forefront of public attention.   

We’re eager to hear from healthcare professional advocates about how they think this might affect the children and families in their community. If you’d like to share, please leave a comment!

Read More:

Wal-Mart Shifts Strategy to Promote Healthy Foods
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/20/business/20walmart.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&emc=eta1

Congratulations to Advocates for Health in Action (AHA) for being listed at #8 on the Institute for Emerging Issues (IEI) top 10 list of Healthcare Innovations in North Carolina!

IEI received more than 70 nominations of promising healthcare innovations already at work in North Carolina. In February, they will begin to develop an action plan for how the 10 most promising innovations can be scaled and/or replicated to deliver better care at lower costs and create new, high-paying jobs across the state.

Laura Aiken, MHA, is the Director of AHA and the site lead for the Be Our Voice project site in WakeMed, NC. Way to go, AHA!

Read More: http://emergingnc.uservoice.com/forums/94737-healthcare-innovations

On December 13^th, 2010, President Obama signed into law the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, also known as the Child Nutrition Reauthorization (CNR). NICHQ joins with our friends and partners at the RWJF Center to Prevent Childhood Obesity in celebrating the passage of this landmark legislation.

Dr. Dwayne Proctor, Director of the Childhood Obesity Program Management Team at RWJF   summarized the magnitude of this legislation: “This is a huge victory for the 31 million students who participate in federal school meal programs and for all kids in schools.  This law is a game-changer in our efforts to reverse childhood obesity - it improves school nutrition, increases program access, and puts an additional $4.5B towards child nutrition programs over 10 years – that’s the largest increase to the authorization since it was started.” 

What exactly does the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act do?

Improves School Nutrition¹

• The law allows the U.S. Department of Agriculture to update school nutrition standards for all food in schools, including offerings through vending machines, stores and à la carte lines. It provides the largest increase in school lunch reimbursements in 30 years (6 cents per lunch, which would be tied to schools meeting stronger school lunch standards).
• School meal quality also would be enhanced through stronger technical assistance to schools, improved meal financing and increased accountability regarding the foods schools serve and sell, and how they operate their programs.
• TheThe law strengthens local school wellness policies by updating existing requirements, increasing transparency, providing opportunities for community involvement and creating compliance measurements.

Increases Program Access¹

• It makes it easier for children receiving Medicaid benefits to participate in school meal programs by using Medicaid data to directly certify eligible children, instead of requiring individual applications. About 115,000 more low-income children will receive free school meals each year as a result of the bill.
• An additional 21 million after-school suppers will be served to at-risk children by 2015, and after-school sites would receive roughly $14,000 in additional revenue per site, on average, per fiscal year. The law also establishes nutrition requirements for these after-school programs.
• Schools will receive $40 million for farm-to -school and school-garden programs to bring more healthy foods into schools and support local agriculture.

Payment¹

• The legislation will spend $4.5 billion on child nutrition programs over 10 years. That is 10 times as large as the last reauthorization.
• The law is partially paid for by eliminating a $2.2 billion temporary increase to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits that was part of the stimulus package. This offset was the source of some opposition by House Democrats.
• The reduction in SNAP benefits would not go into effect until 2013. The White House has committed to working with Congress to restore the SNAP funding.

We at NICHQ would like to thank everyone who’s worked so hard to get this vital legislation through Congress. What a victory for child health!

¹ Summary points authored by Dr. Dwayne C. Proctor.

Last week, the Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity at Yale University released a new report entitled Fast Food F.A.C.T.S. (Food Advertising to Children and Teens Score). The Center found that children as young as 2 are seeing more fast-food ads than ever before, and that restaurants provide largely unhealthy side dishes and drinks as the default options that come with kids’ meals. The new report is the most comprehensive study of fast food nutrition and marketing ever undertaken.

Researchers examined the marketing efforts of 12 of the nation’s largest fast-food chains. Additional data included the calories, fat, sugar and sodium in more than 3,000 kids’ meal combinations and 2,781 menu items. Perhaps the most disturbing finding, indicative of the disheartening nature of the overall report, is that “out of 3,039 possible kids’ meal combinations, only 12 meet the researchers’ nutrition criteria for preschoolers” and “only 15 meet nutrition criteria for older children.” That breaks down to only 0.39% and 0.49% of kids’ meal combinations for each respective age group. 

Any healthcare professional could tell that the fast food climate being pushed in today’s market was unhealthy for our children. But the Rudd Center’s report shows just how detrimental fast food and marketing is—and it’s far beyond anything people expected.

However, hope is not lost. In the words of RWJ President and CEO Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, “Parents should demand the healthy items in kids’ meals—like apple slices and low-fat milk—and they should let fast-food companies know they don’t want them using games, toys and popular characters to lure their children toward unhealthy habits. In the words of one fast-food slogan, let the fast food companies know that you want to ‘have it your way.’”  The report authors also offer practical recommendations for transforming the restaurant and marketing landscapes. The Rudd Center’s findings may be alarming, but hopefully this report will serve as a call to action for both the healthcare and fast food industries alike.

Fast Food FACTS (full report): http://www.rwjf.org/files/research/20101108fffactsreport.pdf

Fast Food FACTS (summary): http://www.rwjf.org/files/research/20101108fastfoodfactsbrochure.pdf

A Statement by Risa Lavizzo-Mourey on Fast Food FACTS: http://www.rwjf.org/pr/product.jsp?id=71424&topicid=1024

On September 14, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced $31 million for awards to ten communities in eight states and one award to a state health department to support public health efforts to reduce obesity and smoking, increase physical activity and improve nutrition.

The awards were funded by the Prevention and Public Health Fund included in the Affordable Care Act. They are also part of the HHS Communities Putting Prevention to Work (CPPW) program, which is a comprehensive prevention and wellness initiative administered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Of the 9 awards given, 7 were designated for obesity prevention efforts.

The announcement of the award is a powerful event in celebration of National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month. The CPPW program is an example of a national initiative with a local focus, much like Be Our Voice. Such programs are vital to the fight against the obesity epidemic. National policies and programs must be complemented by change and implementation at the local level if we are to reverse the trend of childhood obesity within a generation.

To view a detailed listing of grant awardees, visit: http://www.cdc.gov/chronicdisease/recovery/community-awards.htm

NICHQ Awarded $5 Million by HRSA to Lead Nationwide Quality Improvement Program to Help Address Obesity in Children and Families

Part of Nearly $100 Million Granted by HHS for Key Public Health and Prevention Priorities through the Affordable Care Act

Boston, MA, September 24, 2010 — The National Initiative for Children’s Healthcare Quality (NICHQ) announced today it has been awarded a $5 million grant from the US Department of Health and Human Services to help address the obesity epidemic. NICHQ will lead a consortium of organizations to establish a national Prevention Center for Healthy Weight for the Health Services and Resources Administration.  This Center will guide and support the activities of teams from at least 50 communities across the nation to better prevent and treat obesity.

Obesity constitutes a grave threat to the health and well-being of our nation.  Obesity rates have risen dramatically over the past decades with particularly strong impact on diverse and disadvantaged communities. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the United States has the highest rate of obesity among all developed nations. Three in four Americans will become overweight or obese by 2020, unless industry, the public and the government work together to address the issue.

NICHQ’s program will establish the collaborations recommended by the OECD – partnerships between health care, public health and community-based organizations. These partnerships should lead to changes in the community environment and individual health behaviors to promote healthy weight and health equity. The program will focus on children and families from across the nation, with an emphasis on communities at higher risk.

NICHQ will lead the program in collaboration with the following expert partners: the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, the Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs , CSI Solutions, the Institute for Healthcare Improvement , Let’s Go!: Maine Medical Center , National Association of County and City Health Officials, National Association of Community Health Centers and Nemours.

“NICHQ has been working for nearly a decade to address the growing threat of obesity, and we have helped thousands of health care professionals – doctors, nurses, dieticians, and others – be more effective in counseling families and in working to make their communities healthier places to live,” said Charles Homer, MD, NICHQ’s President and CEO.  “We are honored to have this opportunity to extend the work with our many partners under HRSA’s leadership to contribute to solving this critical issue.”

“The Prevention Center for Healthy Weight will play a key role in identifying collaborative strategies for addressing and reducing obesity – an alarming and growing public health problem,” said HRSA Administrator Mary K. Wakefield, PhD, RN. 

United States Senator John Kerry congratulated NICHQ for this award in his remarks at the Boston Medical Center on Friday, September 24. Senator Kerry was on hand to highlight how national health care reform will benefit Massachusetts hospitals. “We know we need to focus not just on sickness, but on wellness,” said Kerry. “The unique work being done by organizations like the National Initiative for Children’s Healthcare Quality (NICHQ) is ensuring Massachusetts continues to lead the way in quality, affordable healthcare.”

About NICHQ
Founded in 1999, the National Initiative for Children’s Healthcare Quality (NICHQ) is an independent, not-for-profit, action-oriented organization dedicated to achieving a world in which all children receive the high quality healthcare they need.  Led by experienced pediatric healthcare professionals, NICHQ’s mission is to improve children’s health by improving the systems responsible for the delivery of children’s healthcare.

For the press release from HRSA, please click here: http://www.hrsa.gov/about/news/pressreleases/100924healthyweight.html

For the press release from Senator Kerry's office, please click here: http://kerry.senate.gov/press/release/?id=A1C8141A-0BBA-4167-9AB0-B8D35139225C

Senator John Kerry congratulates NICHQ’s President and CEO,

Charles Homer, MD, and Chief Operating Officer, Rachel Sachs Steele, MEd, after the announcement of the grant award.

This past March the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution designating September 2010 as the first ever National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month. Then, on September 1^st, President Obama released a memo officially proclaiming  the designation (read the presidential proclamation here). To commemorate this event, Be Our Voice is creating new resources to give healthcare professionals, as well as the general population, more information about the causes of childhood obesity and the efforts being made to address them.

BOV is in a unique position to celebrate National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month. Be Our Voice aims to get healthcare professionals out of their offices and into their communities as voices and implementers of change. Because the project does not focus on one clinical or policy recommendation, BOV is highly compatible with many existing initiatives and individual passions. Clinicians and other HCPs who are engaged in childhood obesity prevention and reduction programs can make sustainable, community-based level changes.  We are very proud of the over two hundred BOV advocates currently out there and ask you to join with them for change. 

The official website for National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month, Healthier Kids, Brighter Futures, has a list of events happening around the country during the month of September. I encourage you to find and participate in the events happening in your area.

And, of course, spend some time on the Be Our Voice website to learn how you, as a healthcare professional, can raise your voice for kids this September.

You may not think of Massachusetts as a state that has an obesity problem, but according to the recent report, F as in Fat: How Obesity Threatens America’s Future, Massachusetts only ranks 18^th on a list of the states with the lowest rates of childhood obesity. But the state legislator is taking action to change that with the help of Massachusetts’ school officials, farmers, and public school districts.

Yesterday, August 4^th, Governor Deval Patrick signed into law the School Nutrition Bill, which takes an aim at establishing standards for all foods sold outside of regular school  meal programs. Most schools and communities in Massachusetts currently have no standards for the kinds of food available to nearly one million public school students in vending machines, a la carte, or in school stores.  And while we’d hope that kids are choosing salads or fruits for snacks, studies show that most students are buying donuts, candy, soda, and potato chips when given the opportunity.

The new School Nutrition Law will increase the selection of healthy foods available while banning the sale of deep fried foods, salty or sugary snacks, and high-calorie sodas in public schools. Schools are now required to make fresh drinking water available along with fruits and vegetables anywhere food is sold. This law also makes it easier for schools to purchase directly from Massachusetts farms—a boon to both farmers and students as, according to available data, kids eat more fruits and vegetables and try new options when they know the food is local.

In addition, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health is now responsible for developing nutritional standards for food or beverages sold in public schools by the start of the 2012-2013 academic school year. Many lawmakers and experts in Massachusetts hope that this law, as well as the standards resulting from its passage, will become a model to the rest of the country in ways to effectively fight childhood obesity.

RWJF and Trust for America’s Health Release F as in Fat 2010

Adult obesity rates climbed in 28 states during the past year and now exceed 25 percent in more than two-thirds of the states, according to F as in Fat: How Obesity Threatens America’s Future 2010.

The report, by Trust for America’s Health (TFAH) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), includes obesity rates among youths ages 10-17, and the results of a new poll on childhood obesity conducted by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research and American Viewpoint. The poll shows that 80 percent of Americans recognize that childhood obesity is a significant and growing challenge for the country, and a strong majority supports a comprehensive national effort to prevent childhood obesity.

In addition, the report highlights troubling racial and ethnic disparities in adult obesity rates. For example, adult obesity rates for Blacks and Latinos were higher than for Whites in at least 40 states and the District of Columbia. 

The report identifies actions that the federal government and many states are taking to address the epidemic and recommends specific strategies to accelerate momentum. Recommendations include: ensuring that disease-prevention measures in the new health reform law are implemented strategically, expanding the commitment to community-based prevention programs, and sustaining investments in research and evaluation.

The Be Our Voice sites are actively engaged in working to change these trends.

Polly Arango, an NICHQ founding Board member and co-founder of Family Voices, passed away on Sunday.  Polly was a tireless advocate committed to her causes and focused on ensuring families were central to the voice and commitment to children with special health needs.  I appreciated her warmth, strong spirit, commitment and dedication.  She was an inspiration and guiding light. 

This picture was just sent my way. I smiled and then my heart sank. For me it sums up our struggles as public health professionals, parents, advocates and Americans in one clear picture. 

You may remember I closely follow the Let’s Move campaign. When the campaign launched in February, it included a presidential memorandum that called for a comprehensive plan to be created to end childhood obesity. Well, you can envision my excitement on Tuesday when the Interagency Task Force on Childhood Obesity revealed their strategic action plan to end childhood obesity within a generation.

The task force included a set of recommendations in the report focused on the four priority areas established in the February memo: empowering parents and caregivers; providing healthy food in schools; improving access to healthy, affordable foods; and increasing physical activity. While not perfect, they are a good start.

All of us at the Be Our Voice campaign are thrilled to see this report because it aligns with our own efforts to advocate for children’s health. We cannot reverse the trend of childhood obesity alone—we need collaboration among parents, physicians, government leaders, community leaders and more. I am pleased that our administration at the highest level recognizes we need this partnership and has launched a coordinated effort with key benchmarks to measure success.

Take a look at the plan.

What do you think? Do you believe that with cooperation from all sides we will in fact end childhood obesity within a generation?

The White House is holding a childhood obesity forum, bringing together experts and industry leaders from across the country to discuss ways to combat the epidemic. First Lady Michelle Obama, Administration officials and Childhood Obesity Task Force members are discussing strategies and solutions to providing healthier food in schools, access to healthy, affordable food, and engaging and empowering parents. Tune in to a live stream at  http://www.whitehouse.gov/live/childhood-obesity-forum.

Dr. Christoffel is on NICHQ's National Advisory Council and shared her reflections on NACH's blog about her experience being at the White House for the meeting.

"When we come together as a nation and really commit ourselves, we can do it," says Robert Wood Johnson Foundation CEO Risa Lavizzo-Mourey. "If we can get that kind of resolve, we'll be able to create a legacy of healthy children and a healthier nation." Our future depends on it.

Last week's issue of Newsweek addresses childhood obesity as its cover story and includes other articles on the issue and a column by Michelle Obama.  Check it out at http://www.newsweek.com/id/234886. The article includes numerous mentions of RWJF grantees and partners and many NICHQ National Advisory Council members are quoted.

Congratulations to NICHQ Obesity National Advisory Council members Lisa Simpson, William Dietz, Jon Klein, David Ludwig, and Debbie Chang on their contributions to the March 2010 edition of Health Affairs. The publication examines the root causes of child obesity as well as potential prescriptions for improving the health of American’s children. Topics covered in the journal, and discussed at a press briefing in Washington, D.C. March 2, include differences in obesity rates among diverse groups, agriculture policies and possible impacts, snacking habits of children, statewide initiatives in child care centers, and the impact of junk foods in schools. (http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/vol29/issue3/)

Just completed a WIHI presentation where Dr. Charlie Homer, Dr. David Kessler and I had the pleasure of discussing the drivers of overweight and obesity in our society.  Why is Oprah, who has all the resources in the world, not able to sustain weight loss?  Why is it that the majority of us are preoccupied with food – the last piece of pizza, the next meal?  The combination of external cues and internal biology has presented the quandary (and bulging society) we now face.  So, what are we to do?  We discussed options from industry reform to food availability to what happens in the clinic between a healthcare professional and an individual or family.  Over 500 participants chatted along with the interview.  Didn’t catch it?  You can download the podcast.

Very excited about the news from the White House.  President Obama has announced three strategies around childhood obesity.  First Lady Michelle Obama unveiled a nationwide campaign, President Obama signed an Executive Order establishing a Task Force on Childhood Obesity and The Partnership for a Healthier America, a new, nonpartisan organization to track public-private partnerships was established.

The First Lady also announced the Administration’s goal to eliminate food desserts in America within seven years.  $400 million a year has been proposed in the President’s 2011 budget for the “Healthy Food Financing Initiative” (a collaboration between the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Health and Human Services, and Treasury) to develop or equip grocery stores and other healthy food retailers in urban and rural food deserts. Mrs. Obama also unveiled the USDA Economic Research Service's (ERS) Food Environment Atlas, an interactive tool that provides a spatial overview of a community's ability to access healthy food and its success in doing so. This is a very cool tool you can use to capture local-level statistics on community characteristics, food choices, and health and well-being.

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