Fighting obesity

Abstract

In response to your Editorial (Jan 31, p 339),1The Lancet Who pays in the obesity war.Lancet. 2004; 363: 339Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (11) Google Scholar as the leader in the fight against overweight and obesity, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has the goal of supporting the strongest possible resolution and strategy on diet, nutrition, and physical activity based on the best possible scientific evidence, that can be adopted by the most number of countries.Under the leadership of HHS Secretary Tommy G Thompson, the issue of overweight and obesity has successfully been raised to the top of the domestic agenda by speaking the truth, and calling on all those with a stake in the issue to do their part to fight this issue in America.Thus, individuals and families need to be more active and make better and healthier choices; industries need to provide and promote healthier choices for customers and better information about their products; the government needs to make sure the public has accurate, science-based information to help consumers make better choices; and we need scientists to help us understand the causes of and contributing factors to overweight and obesity, by providing more information about what we can do to decrease the frequency of overweight and obesity. We are making progress on all these fronts.The WHO Executive Board, with the support of 32 nations, has unanimously adopted a resolution calling for the passage of a global strategy on diet, nutrition, and physical activity. The executive board asked the WHO Secretariat to provide an additional 30 days of comments to the draft strategy from member states and interested parties. As the strategy is finalised, the USA will continue to work with the WHO and member states, to ensure that the document contains the most scientifically accurate information to help consumers. In response to your Editorial (Jan 31, p 339),1The Lancet Who pays in the obesity war.Lancet. 2004; 363: 339Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (11) Google Scholar as the leader in the fight against overweight and obesity, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has the goal of supporting the strongest possible resolution and strategy on diet, nutrition, and physical activity based on the best possible scientific evidence, that can be adopted by the most number of countries. Under the leadership of HHS Secretary Tommy G Thompson, the issue of overweight and obesity has successfully been raised to the top of the domestic agenda by speaking the truth, and calling on all those with a stake in the issue to do their part to fight this issue in America. Thus, individuals and families need to be more active and make better and healthier choices; industries need to provide and promote healthier choices for customers and better information about their products; the government needs to make sure the public has accurate, science-based information to help consumers make better choices; and we need scientists to help us understand the causes of and contributing factors to overweight and obesity, by providing more information about what we can do to decrease the frequency of overweight and obesity. We are making progress on all these fronts. The WHO Executive Board, with the support of 32 nations, has unanimously adopted a resolution calling for the passage of a global strategy on diet, nutrition, and physical activity. The executive board asked the WHO Secretariat to provide an additional 30 days of comments to the draft strategy from member states and interested parties. As the strategy is finalised, the USA will continue to work with the WHO and member states, to ensure that the document contains the most scientifically accurate information to help consumers.