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Preventing Childhood Obesity: Health in the Balance (2005)

Chapter: Appendix D: Lessons Learned from Public Health Efforts and Their Relevance to Preventing Childhood Obesity

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Suggested Citation:"Appendix D: Lessons Learned from Public Health Efforts and Their Relevance to Preventing Childhood Obesity." Institute of Medicine. 2005. Preventing Childhood Obesity: Health in the Balance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11015.
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D
Lessons Learned from Public Health Efforts and Their Relevance to Preventing Childhood ObesityMichael Eriksen, Sc.D.1

INTRODUCTION

As a nation, we are experiencing an epidemic of obesity that is unprecedented in its magnitude or rapidity. Overweight and obesity not only plague the majority of adults, but children are becoming increasingly overweight, with corresponding decrements in health status and quality of life.

While the problem clearly exists, the causes are less clear. There is little clarity about the relative importance of possible causative factors such as changes in dietary patterns, increases in fast food and soft drink consumption, increases in portion size, decreases in physical activity, increases in television viewing, or most likely, a mix of all these factors. Clearly, a thorough understanding of the precise causes of childhood obesity, and how these factors interact, would increase the probability of developing effective prevention and control strategies. In the absence of a precise understanding of the etiology of the problem, it may be useful to look at the lessons learned from other public health campaigns and to try to determine if these lessons have any relevance for the prevention of childhood obesity.

One way to better understand how to deal with a particular public health problem is to look at the experience in dealing with other public health issues, especially those where there has been a modicum of success.

1

Professor and Director, Institute of Public Health, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA

Suggested Citation:"Appendix D: Lessons Learned from Public Health Efforts and Their Relevance to Preventing Childhood Obesity." Institute of Medicine. 2005. Preventing Childhood Obesity: Health in the Balance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11015.
×

For the purposes of this appendix, the experience with public health programs, such as tobacco control, injury prevention, underage alcohol use, gun control, and others are qualitatively examined with particular attention to their possible relevance for the prevention of childhood obesity.

PUBLIC HEALTH LESSONS LEARNED

The purpose of this paper is not to suggest specific intervention strategies to prevent childhood obesity, but rather to learn from other public health experiences and to glean lessons that might help inform efforts to prevent childhood obesity. There is certainly no shortage of theories, models, and approaches to help guide public health program planning. There are multiple health behavior theories that are commonly used to guide public health efforts (Glanz et al., 2002), and popular planning models have been designed to help diagnose health problems (Green and Kreuter, 2000), identify the factors that contribute to these problems, and devise appropriate interventions. In general, these theories and models recommend taking a broad view of changing health behaviors and conditions, suggesting multifactorial, comprehensive interventions that address multiple aspects of the problem. Recently, the Institute of Medicine (2002) endorsed this broad approach to public health interventions, recommending the adoption of an “ecological model” for viewing public health problems and interventions, where the individual is viewed within a larger context of family, community, and society. Overall, there is increasing interest in public health interventions being comprehensive, addressing the multiple factors that influence the health problem, and striving to strike a balance between efforts directed at the individual and the social-environmental context in which people live. It is likely that this approach will be as relevant for the prevention of childhood obesity as it is for other contemporary public health challenges. However, as previously stated, the purpose here is not to propose a comprehensive intervention program for childhood obesity, but rather to identify the factors associated with success in other public health areas, both as a result of planned interventions and also corresponding to social, cultural, or temporal factors.

Despite the notable successes in public health over the past century, there are no generally agreed on approaches or interventions that can be applied to multiple public health problems, with the same intervention effect seen with different problems. There are general guidelines and recommendations, core functions for public health, but no generic model program, best practices, or common lessons learned that could be applied to most or all public health problems.

There are “best practices” for specific public health problems, but little research or insight of the extent to which these categorical approaches are

Suggested Citation:"Appendix D: Lessons Learned from Public Health Efforts and Their Relevance to Preventing Childhood Obesity." Institute of Medicine. 2005. Preventing Childhood Obesity: Health in the Balance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11015.
×

generalizable to other public health challenges. For example, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) Best Practices for Comprehensive Tobacco Control Programs (CDC, 1999a) describes nine programmatic areas (i.e., community programs, school programs, statewide programs, etc.) that have been shown to be effective in reducing tobacco use.2 In practice, these programs are typically delivered “comprehensively,” and it is difficult, if not impossible, to tease out the relative impact of specific program components within these comprehensive, real-life campaigns. For this reason, program evaluations of large-scale public health campaigns tend to assess the collective effort, rather than the impact of individual program components. Because of the difficulty in teasing out the effect of one component of a comprehensive program, evaluations have tended to focus on the overall program impact and on the relationship between financial investment in program activities and changes in health behaviors. Data on the impact of comprehensive programs is strong, both in terms of changes in health behavior, as well as in terms of health outcomes (CDC, 2000). Recent analysis has confirmed that the greater the investment in comprehensive programs, composed of evidence-based programs, the larger the public health benefit (Farrelly et al., 2003).

In addition to tobacco control, recent review articles have analyzed the evidence for the effectiveness of public health interventions for a variety of public health problems, including dietary behavior, underage drinking, and motor vehicle injuries, to name just a few. For example, a recent review by Bowen and Beresford (2002) concluded that although much has been learned about trying to change dietary practices clinically, it is particularly important to learn how to transform the successes obtained from interventions aimed at the individual to community and public health settings. Gielen and Sleet (2003) reviewed the injury prevention literature and concluded that a simplistic belief that imparting information would result in behavior change and injury risk reduction resulted in an over-reliance on engineering solutions alone as the basis for injury prevention programs. These authors reinforce the need for interdisciplinary approaches to injury prevention, using behavioral science theory, coupled with engineering solutions.

These observations from other public health problems (e.g., determining how to expand clinical success to communities, combining behavioral

2

For example, in 1999, the CDC’s Best Practices for Comprehensive Tobacco Control Programs was developed to guide state health departments in planning and allocating funds from the Master Settlement Agreement. The Best Practices document does not explicitly recommend policy or regulatory actions, such as an increase in the excise tax on tobacco products, or clean indoor air laws, because they did not require budget expenditures.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix D: Lessons Learned from Public Health Efforts and Their Relevance to Preventing Childhood Obesity." Institute of Medicine. 2005. Preventing Childhood Obesity: Health in the Balance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11015.
×

and environmental approaches) are informative and relevant for the development of programs to prevent childhood obesity.

Ten Greatest Public Health Achievements in the 20th Century

To begin to understand the potential generalizability of “best practices” for specific health problems, it is useful to look at the evidence for the specific success stories and determine if there are any common elements, or lessons learned, that tend to span multiple problems.

In 1999, acknowledging public health successes, CDC published a list of the ten greatest public health achievements of the 20th century (CDC, 1999b) (Box D-1).

The subsequent Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Reports (MMWR) documented the reason these achievements were selected and described the progress made in each area in terms of death and disease prevented. Although efforts were made to account for the reasons for the progress, there was no systematic effort to attribute improvements in health status to specific interventions, and no attempt was made to determine if there were common interventions that contributed to the amelioration of multiple health problems.

A preliminary review of the MMWR reports reveals a pattern of categories of interventions that appear to have played a role in accomplishing multiple achievements. The goal was to identify instances, across achievements, of community intervention categories found in the past to have strong evidence of effectiveness with multiple health behaviors or problems. As Table D-1 shows, intervention categories identified most frequently included community-wide campaigns, mass-media strategies, changes to

BOX D-1

Ten Great Public Health Achievements United States, 1900-1999

  • Vaccination

  • Motor vehicle safety

  • Safer workplaces

  • Control of infectious disease

  • Decline in deaths from coronary heart disease and stroke

  • Safer and healthier foods

  • Healthier mothers and babies

  • Family planning

  • Fluoridation of drinking water

  • Recognition of tobacco use as a health hazard

Suggested Citation:"Appendix D: Lessons Learned from Public Health Efforts and Their Relevance to Preventing Childhood Obesity." Institute of Medicine. 2005. Preventing Childhood Obesity: Health in the Balance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11015.
×

TABLE D-1 Community Intervention Categories and 10 Greatest Public Health Achievements 1900-1999

 

Community-Wide Campaigns

School-Based Interventions

Mass-Media Strategies

Laws and Regulations

Provider Reminder Systems

Reducing Costs to Patients

Vaccination

X

 

X

X

 

X

Motor-vehicle safety

X

X

X

X

 

 

Saferworkplaces

X

 

 

X

 

 

Control of infectious diseases

X

 

X

X

 

X

Decline indeaths from coronary heart disease and stroke

X

 

X

 

 

 

Safer and healthier foods

X

X

X

X

 

X

Healthier mothers and babies

X

 

X

X

 

X

Family planning

X

 

 

X

 

X

Fluoridation of drinking water

 

 

 

X

 

 

Recognition of tobacco use as a health hazard

 

 

 

X

X

X

Suggested Citation:"Appendix D: Lessons Learned from Public Health Efforts and Their Relevance to Preventing Childhood Obesity." Institute of Medicine. 2005. Preventing Childhood Obesity: Health in the Balance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11015.
×

laws and regulations, and reductions in patient costs. Those categories mentioned least frequently included school-based interventions, and provider reminder systems. In addition, some contextual factors were similar across achievements. For example, in nearly all cases, policy changes were followed by the emergence of new government leadership structures that were effective enforcers of the new policies and oversaw the development and implementation of new programs. Additionally, improved surveillance methods, control measures, technologies, and treatments, and expanding systems of service delivery and provider education, were frequently cited as driving factors in these achievements.

The Guide to Community Preventive Services

Intensive effort has been devoted to reviewing the evidence of effectiveness, first for clinical preventive services (AHRQ, 2002) and now for community preventive services (CDC, 2004c), but these efforts focus on the quality of evidence for specific diseases and health behaviors, rather than drawing conclusions, or generalizing, across health problems.

The task force has completed the analysis of the evidence in nine major areas. More reports, including those central to preventing childhood obesity (e.g., school-based programs, community fruit and vegetable consumption, consumer literacy, and food and nutrition policy) have not yet been released (CDC, 2004c). Of the nine completed reports (most of which focused on adult health behaviors), the task force has determined that 34 interventions could be recommended based on “strong” scientific evidence, another 14 could be recommended as having “sufficient” scientific evidence, and for 42, there was insufficient evidence to make a recommendation. The Guide emphasizes that “…a determination that evidence is insufficient should not be confused with evidence of ineffectiveness.”

There was relatively little overlap in the nearly 50 recommended interventions, primarily because the interventions studied were very specific to the health behavior or health condition studied. However, certain categories of interventions appear to have strong evidence of effectiveness for multiple health behaviors and problems. The interventions listed in Table D-2 appear to be effective in multiple areas.

Thus, there are at least seven types of macrolevel interventions that appear to have evidence supporting their effectiveness for multiple public health problems. Other interventions that are effective for multiple behaviors and conditions may be identified in future work by the task force. Similarly, some of the types of interventions that currently have insufficient evidence may in fact have relevance for multiple health problems, but the current body of research is insufficient in relation to rules of evidence. As is

Suggested Citation:"Appendix D: Lessons Learned from Public Health Efforts and Their Relevance to Preventing Childhood Obesity." Institute of Medicine. 2005. Preventing Childhood Obesity: Health in the Balance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11015.
×

TABLE D-2 Recommended Public Health Interventions Common to Multiple Health Behaviors and Conditions, The Guide to Community Preventive Services

Type of Intervention

Health Behavior or Condition

Community-wide campaigns

Physical activity**

Motor vehicle occupant injuries*

Oral health (water fluoridation)**

School-based interventions

Physical activity**

Oral health (sealants)**

Vaccine preventable diseases (requirement for school admission)*

Skin cancer*

Mass-media strategies

Tobacco initiation and cessation**

Motor vehicle occupant injuries**

Laws and regulations

Reducing exposure to secondhand smoke**

Motor vehicle occupant injuries**

Provider reminder systems

Vaccine preventable diseases**

Tobacco cessation*

Reducing costs to patients

Tobacco cessation*

Vaccine preventable diseases**

Home visits

accine preventable diseases*

Violence prevention**

* Sufficient evidence.

** Strong evidence.

SOURCE: CDC, 2004c.

often the case, the requisite research is difficult to conduct, or has yet to be conducted.

Based on the experience to date from The Guide to Community Preventive Services, it appears that comprehensive programs that involve communities, schools, mass media, health providers, and laws and regulations are most likely to be effective for a number of health problems. It is reasonable to assume that some or all of the types of interventions may have utility in preventing childhood obesity

Lessons Learned Across Multiple Public Health Problems

The focus on “internal validity” has greatly improved the practice of public health and the implementation of evidence-based approaches shown to be effective for specific health problems. This focus on disease- or behavior-specific evidence has not, however, advanced our understanding of the

Suggested Citation:"Appendix D: Lessons Learned from Public Health Efforts and Their Relevance to Preventing Childhood Obesity." Institute of Medicine. 2005. Preventing Childhood Obesity: Health in the Balance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11015.
×

“external validity” or generalizability of interventions across multiple health problems. Namely, extant research has failed to determine if there are common approaches that may be effective across a variety of health problems.

There is a clear need for “lessons learned” from public health interventions and an assessment of the generalizability of interventions, and a determination of under what conditions, and for which populations, they may work. While analysis of the same degree of rigor that has been applied to assessing the evidence for effectiveness of specific programs does not exist across multiple programs, some efforts have been made to analyze the experiences of successful public health campaigns, and to identify elements that appear to be associated with program success. Some of this work has been done by academic researchers and some advanced by the public health practice community, most notably the articulation of the Ten Essential Public Health Services (CDC, 2004a) and the National Public Health Performance Standards (CDC, 2004b). While these efforts to improve practice are noteworthy and of critical importance, the following section highlights some of the academic reviews focused on factors associated with successful health movements.

For example, based on analysis of success with lead, fluoride, auto safety, and tobacco, Isaacs and Schroeder (2001) concluded that the ingredients of success for public health programs include a mixture of (1) highly credible scientific evidence, (2) campaigns with highly effective advocates, (3) a supportive partnership with the media, and (4) laws and regulations, often, but not always, at the federal level.

Drawing on social movement and other sociological theories, Nathanson analyzed the tobacco and gun control movements and concluded that successful health-related social movements had the following elements in common: a socially and scientifically credible threat to the public health, mobilization of a diverse constituency, and “the convergence of political opportunities with target vulnerabilities.”

Some researchers have looked for public health lessons that may be directly applicable to obesity or dietary change. Researchers at CDC analyzed the experience with the tobacco control movement in relation to possible implications for preventing obesity (Mercer et al., 2003). They used the intervention framework described in the 2000 Surgeon General’s Report, Reducing Tobacco Use, and reflected on the relevance of educational, clinical, regulatory, economic, and comprehensive interventions for the prevention of obesity (DHHS, 2000).

Researchers at the World Health Organization (WHO) looked at the recently adopted Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) in terms of its possible implications for improving global dietary and physical activity levels (Yach et al., 2003). These researchers concluded that strate-

Suggested Citation:"Appendix D: Lessons Learned from Public Health Efforts and Their Relevance to Preventing Childhood Obesity." Institute of Medicine. 2005. Preventing Childhood Obesity: Health in the Balance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11015.
×

gies to improve diet and physical activity levels must be different from those employed for tobacco control, because the nature of the behaviors are different, but also in relation to possible private-sector interactions. According to the authors, a formal treaty approach is not warranted,3 but that the organizing framework for the FCTC may be useful for the development of national plans and policies. In their article, Yach and colleagues (2003) draw comparisons between tobacco and food strategies, using the template of the FCTC, including a discussion of (1) price and tax measures, (2) labeling and product content, (3) educational campaigns, (4) product marketing, (5) clinical interventions, (6) product supply, (7) liability and corporate behavior, and (8) supportive and facilitative measures.

Economos and colleagues (2001) conducted a global analysis of social change models by interviewing 34 key informants. These investigators concluded that a number of factors are being associated with a successful social change. These factors included having the issue being perceived as a crisis, a persuasive science base, important economic implications, strategic leadership (spark plugs), a coalition or mobilizing network, community and media advocacy, government involvement, media involvement, policy and environmental change, and a coordinated, but flexible plan.

A synthesis of these studies suggests a set of core factors that appear to be associated with successful health-related social change efforts. These core factors include:

  • A persuasive science base documenting a socially and scientifically credible threat to the public health with important economic implications;

  • A supportive partnership with the media;

  • Strategic leadership and a prominent champion;

  • A diverse constituency of highly effective advocates; and

  • Enabling and reinforcing laws, regulations, and policies.

It is not clear whether all these factors need to be present for each public health campaign, or if there is a preferred sequence of activities, although the order presented above corresponds roughly to the tobacco control movement and exhibits some face validity for these core concepts.

In summary, some of the factors associated with successful public health campaigns are formal, planned interventions (e.g., mass-media campaigns,

3

However, an accompanying commentary (Daynard, 2003) suggested that consideration should be given to a treaty model for global obesity prevention, similar to the FCTC, if only for the increased awareness of civil society and governments of the problem resultant from treaty development and negotiations process.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix D: Lessons Learned from Public Health Efforts and Their Relevance to Preventing Childhood Obesity." Institute of Medicine. 2005. Preventing Childhood Obesity: Health in the Balance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11015.
×

school-based programs), while other elements associated with success are cultural or social factors (e.g., leadership, advocacy, scientific evidence). Althougth these social factors are less likely to be planned in the same way as formal interventions are, they can and should be cultivated and combined with more traditional intervention strategies This mix of formal interventions, typically provided by the medical and public health communities, coupled with social change strategies, typically stimulated by advocacy organizations and civil society, are most likely to result in successful and sustained health-related social change. Empirical data are lacking, but some could argue that the two types of interventions are inextricably linked, and either alone is unlikely to achieve success. If anything, anecdotal evidence suggests that social factors (those less likely to be initiated by the health community) are more likely to be associated with success in health-related social movements, if only serving to create a “tipping point” for social change (Gladwell, 2000).

AN ORGANIZING FRAMEWORK FOR PUBLIC HEALTH INTERVENTIONS

To learn from the lessons of other public health experiences and determine whether there is any utility or relevance for preventing childhood obesity, it is useful to have a conceptual framework to organize the experiences, principles, and strategies. In the 2000 Surgeon General’s Report, Reducing Tobacco Use, a framework was developed to categorize the different types of tobacco control interventions (DHHS, 2000). This framework reviewed the evidence within the following categories: educational, clinical, legal, economic, regulatory, and comprehensive. Although it was developed for tobacco control, this framework may be useful in categorizing interventions for other types of public health problems and has already been used to analyze similarities and differences between tobacco control and the prevention of obesity (Mercer et al., 2003). Analyzing strategies to prevent underage drinking, Komro and Toomey (2002) identified six different types of alcohol prevention strategies: school, extracurricular, family, policy, community, and multicomponent.

Drawing on and expanding the framework in the 2000 Surgeon General’s Report and from other sources, the next section reviews findings from a variety of public health campaigns, particularly efforts to reduce tobacco use, and other public health experiences that have commercial dimensions, or that have been politically sensitive (e.g., underage alcohol consumption, injury prevention). The following section reviews six categories of interventions that may have relevance for the prevention of childhood obesity. These categories are:

Suggested Citation:"Appendix D: Lessons Learned from Public Health Efforts and Their Relevance to Preventing Childhood Obesity." Institute of Medicine. 2005. Preventing Childhood Obesity: Health in the Balance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11015.
×
  • The information environment

  • Access and opportunity

  • Economic factors

  • The legal and regulatory environment

  • Prevention and treatment programs

  • The social environment

The Information Environment

The environment in which people are informed about public health issues is of critical importance, but also fraught with controversy, particularly when dealing with the marketing of commercial products. As a rule, the public health community tends to favor restrictions on commercial speech, if felt necessary to insure the public health. On the other hand, commercial interests tend to view any restrictions on marketing as infringements of their constitutional right to freedom of speech. A thorough discussion on individual speech versus commercial speech is beyond the scope of this paper; however, this tenet was a central argument in the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) attempt to regulate tobacco products (Kessler, 2001), and it remains an argument whenever legislators or regulators attempt to restrict the advertising for commercial products such as tobacco, alcohol, and foods.

Although product advertising may result in a public health benefit when the advertising promotes healthy products (Ippolito and Mathios, 1995), the majority of the debate about product marketing focuses on those products that may have harmful effects, particularly among children. Despite the concerns of commercial interests, governments do have the right to alter the informational environment, particularly when the information being conveyed is considered to be false, misleading, or deceptive. In the United States, the regulatory authority in this area is shared by multiple federal agencies, but particularly by the FDA and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Gostin (2003) notes that government’s power to alter the informational environment is one of the major ways in which governments can “assure the conditions for people to be healthy.” The article goes on to describe that governments can alter the informational environment in a number of ways, including by sponsoring health education campaigns and other persuasive communications, requiring product labeling, and restricting harmful or misleading advertising.

Most of the effort in altering the information environment has been done in relation to children and adolescents, particularly when it is believed that the information being conveyed may be harmful or misleading to children (Strasburger and Donnerstein, 1999). Because of this, the quality of the evidence documenting the effect of informational efforts, particularly

Suggested Citation:"Appendix D: Lessons Learned from Public Health Efforts and Their Relevance to Preventing Childhood Obesity." Institute of Medicine. 2005. Preventing Childhood Obesity: Health in the Balance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11015.
×

the marketing of commercial products to children is intensely debated. As one might assume, public health advocates are convinced that marketing efforts are a substantial contributing factor to youth risk behaviors, particularly in the areas of tobacco use, underage drinking, and consumption of high-fat and calorie-dense foods. The manufacturers of these products (and their legal counsel) take just the opposite position, claiming there is insufficient empirical evidence to prove the precise role of marketing on the relevant behaviors of children. At most, manufacturers may concede that marketing may influence the selection of a particular brand of a product but that there is little evidence that marketing contributes to the initiation or use of a product, or causes an overall increase in demand for that product. Despite the lack of existence of the single, definitive, experimental study that unarguably proves that advertising affects the health behaviors of young people, including the initiation and continuation of consumption, most public health authorities agree that the overall weight of the scientific evidence points inescapably to this conclusion.

Concern about the effect of the information environment, particularly the effect of the marketing of harmful products on children, became prominent during the early 1990s corresponding to the increase in youth smoking. Discovering that very young children were more likely to recognize Joe Camel than Mickey Mouse, and that adolescents were much more likely than adults to smoke the most advertised brands, led regulators to attempt to restrict the information environment, particularly as it relates to young people (Kessler, 2001). The battles have continued over the last decade, with litigation replacing public policy as the primary vehicle to restrict advertising, or at least receive compensation for the harm caused. To a large extent, the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) attempted to resolve this issue, combining cash payments to states and voluntary limitations on marketing practices (Schroeder, 2004). However, most believe the problem continues and marketing for tobacco products is unabated. Following the MSA agreement with the states, in 1999 the U.S. Department of Justice4 filed suit against the tobacco industry under racketeering and organized crime statues, including the claim that tobacco companies aggressively marketed cigarettes to children. This case was scheduled to go to trial in September 2004. In February 2004, the U.S. District Court denied a motion by the tobacco companies to dismiss the section of the case related to youth marketing of tobacco products.4

Thus, the issue of the impact of product marketing on the health-related behaviors of young people continues to be reviewed scholarly, as

4

USA v. Philip Morris USA Inc., Civil Action 99-2496.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix D: Lessons Learned from Public Health Efforts and Their Relevance to Preventing Childhood Obesity." Institute of Medicine. 2005. Preventing Childhood Obesity: Health in the Balance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11015.
×

well as legally. Overall, there is good evidence that the advertising and marketing of food products influences parental and child food choice (Food Standards Agency, 2003). Additional empirical studies clearly document the increase in the number of television commercials viewed by children (Kunkel, 2001), the increase in ads for high-fat and high-sodium convenience foods (Gamble and Cotugna, 1999), the effect of even brief exposure to television commercials on food preferences of young children (Borzekowski and Robinson, 2001), and an association between television viewing and the consumption of fast foods (French et al., 2001). Most recently, and directly related to the dietary behaviors of children, the Kaiser Family Foundation (2004) reviewed the evidence on the effect of all types of media on children’s dietary behavior, and recommended the reduction or regulation of food ads targeted to children, among other policy options. The American Psychological Association (APA, 2004) recently concluded that televised advertising messages can lead to unhealthy eating habits, particularly for children under 8 years of age who are unable to critically comprehend advertised messages. The APA report went on to recommend:

Restrict advertising primarily directed to young children of eight years and under. Policymakers need to take steps to better protect young children from exposure to advertising because of the inherent unfairness of advertising to audiences who lack the capability to evaluate biased sources of information found in television commercials.

Currently, there are no legal restrictions on the marketing of unhealthy food to children. Correspondingly, food companies are unfettered in their marketing of calorie-dense and low-nutritional-quality food to children. Some consider it to be “open season” on children, with cartoon characters, celebrities, promotional tie-ins, product placement, sponsorship, games, and toys all be used to market unhealthy foods to children. Candy, soft drinks, and high-fat and high-sodium foods are even marketed in elementary schools (Levine, 1999). None of these strategies are still used to promote tobacco products to children, mainly because it is illegal to sell tobacco products to minors, some states prohibit the use and possession of tobacco products by minors, and the tobacco companies themselves have either voluntarily agreed not to market to children, or have been prohibited from doing so as the result of the settlement of legal proceedings. There is good evidence to suggest that restrictions on the advertising of unhealthy foods, the promotion of healthy choices, and possibly paid counter-advertising campaigns will improve the information environment relative to the prevention of childhood obesity. It is unlikely, however, that such actions will be forthcoming from the federal government, especially the FTC. Recently, Tim Muris, a month after announcing he would step down as FTC Chairman, penned a commentary in The Wall Street Journal entitled, “Don’t

Suggested Citation:"Appendix D: Lessons Learned from Public Health Efforts and Their Relevance to Preventing Childhood Obesity." Institute of Medicine. 2005. Preventing Childhood Obesity: Health in the Balance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11015.
×

Blame TV” where he stated, “Banning junk food ads on kids’ programming is impractical, ineffective and illegal” (Muris, 2004).

Warning Labels, Ingredient Disclosure, and Labeling

As part of being an informed consumer, public health experts are calling for the full disclosure of ingredients. Commercially purchased food products currently have nutritional labels, which contain ingredients used in the food product, as well as nutritional information on calories, fat, and other nutritional parameters. As product packaging has increased, many nutritional labels still present the nutritional parameters for a “serving” rather than for the contents of the package. The FDA is currently investigating the need to require the provision of “whole package data” in addition to nutritional information per serving (Day, 2003; Matthews et al., 2003; Stein, 2003). Food purchased in restaurants and fast food establishments do not contain nutritional information on the menus or with the meals, although many fast food establishments have nutritional information posted or available on request.

Warning labels have been required on cigarette packages since the late 1960s; however, U.S. warning labels have not kept pace with international standards and generally are not noticed by smokers. Starting with Canada and now required by a number of other countries, graphic and vivid warning labels are required on all tobacco products. Similar labels are required by member states who are signatory to the FCTC (WHO, 2003). Graphic and vivid warning labels, similar to those used in Canada, have been shown to attract the attention of smokers, contribute to their interest in quitting smoking, and increase quit attempts (Hammond et al., 2003). They have even been associated with a reduction in cigarette smoking (Hammond et al., 2004). Currently, there are no warnings labels for food products, other than for alcoholic products, and in some instances, for certain food products that may contain a high risk of infectious disease (e.g., uncooked shellfish). The 2004 report of the APA on the effect of advertising on children concluded that any warnings, disclosures, or disclaimers about products advertised to children should be communicated in clear language comprehensible to the intended audience (APA, 2004).

Access and Opportunity

Children’s and adolescents’ ease of access and ready opportunity to purchase foods with high sugar, fat, and sodium content likely contribute to the increase in the prevalence of childhood overweight and obesity. Although empirical evidence on the precise contribution of easy availability and access to food products is not strong, some restrictions on access for

Suggested Citation:"Appendix D: Lessons Learned from Public Health Efforts and Their Relevance to Preventing Childhood Obesity." Institute of Medicine. 2005. Preventing Childhood Obesity: Health in the Balance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11015.
×

children are appropriate, at a minimum, to establish a foundation for subsequent public health interventions.

The Community Environment

Community access to food products is ubiquitous and, before recommending restrictions or limitations on access in the community, it may be useful to examine the experience with attempting to restrict minors’ access to tobacco products. Because the sale, and frequently the possession, of tobacco products by minors is illegal, various steps have been enacted to enforce tobacco access restrictions. Federal legislation has been promulgated to require states to enforce a prohibition on the sale of tobacco products to minors, and some stores voluntarily restrict access to tobacco products by keeping inventory behind the counter and requiring a personal interaction between the sales clerk and the customer to obtain the product. The evidence, however, is unclear about the effectiveness of enforcement of minors’ access laws in reducing the use of tobacco products (Warner et al., 2003). Increasingly, minors have used other means (shoplifting, purchasing by friends, social acquisition) to obtain cigarettes. Whether or not these restrictions are effective by themselves, enforcement of laws to prevent the sale of tobacco products by minors sends a strong and consistent message on the hazard of tobacco use and should be considered as necessary, but not necessarily sufficient action, to prevent adolescent tobacco use.

Regarding calorie-dense or low-nutritional-quality foods, there is no restriction whatsoever on their retail and commercial availability. As is the case with cigarettes, these snack and fast food products are ubiquitously available—in vending machines, gas stations, convenience stores, and many other places. In fact, nearly every retail and commercial outlet sells gums, candies, crackers, cookies, and soft drinks. However, in reviewing the literature on the influence of availability on food choices, French and colleagues (1997) concluded that the relationship is inconsistent, particularly compared to the strong inverse relationship between price and consumption. Further research is needed to determine if restricting commercial access and availability would be effective in reducing the consumption of calorie-dense and low-nutritional-quality foods. As long as these products can be sold legally to minors, it is unlikely that widespread restriction of access to these products is feasible, and even if feasible, whether restriction would have a public health effect.

In addition to examining access to certain food products, it is perhaps more important to understand the changing patterns of consumption and how these patterns may inform interventions to reduce the risk of obesity. The published literature indicates that over the past few decades, and accelerating in the past few years, there have been increases in eating outside the

Suggested Citation:"Appendix D: Lessons Learned from Public Health Efforts and Their Relevance to Preventing Childhood Obesity." Institute of Medicine. 2005. Preventing Childhood Obesity: Health in the Balance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11015.
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home (particularly at fast food restaurants) (Guthrie et al., 2002; Nielsen et al., 2003; Bowman et al., 2004), increases in portion size (Young and Nestle, 2002; Nielsen and Popkin, 2003), and increases in soft drink consumption (AAP, 2004).

The School Environment

Schools are an important setting to encourage health-promoting behaviors, including the prevention of obesity (Dietz and Gortmaker, 2001). CDC has issued guidelines for schools to prevent nicotine addiction that include smoke-free policies, tobacco prevention policies, and smoking cessation assistance for teachers, staff, and students (CDC, 1994). Similar guidelines exist for nutrition and physical activity programs in schools (CDC, 1996). There is good scientific evidence that manipulation of the school cafeteria and physical activity environment can improve the cardiovascular health of elementary school children, including body mass index (Wechsler et al., 2000). However, the presence of vending machines, concerns about cafeteria menus, and the declining requirement for physical education in schools suggest that the school environment may need improvement.

The American Public Health Association (2003) has called for the development of school policies for the promotion of healthful eating environments and the prohibition of soft drinks and other low-nutrition foods during the school day. The American Academy of Pediatrics (2004) calls for school policies that restrict the sale of soft drinks. There has been some progress in removing soft drinks and snack foods in vending machines from elementary and middle schools particularly in California. This has been achieved by state legislation or local school board policy (e.g., Los Angeles Unified School District), with the major concerns being loss of school district revenue and commitment to long-term contracts with soft drink manufacturers. There is a clear need for additional research on the relative importance of the school environment in contributing to the problem of overweight and obesity among children, as well as the role schools may play in ameliorating this problem. Recently, the National Institutes of Health announced a new funding program to support research in this area (NIH, 2004).

Economic Factors

In addition to altering the informational environment, Gostin (2003) also notes that the government’s power to tax and spend is one of the major ways in which governments can “assure the conditions for people to be healthy.” He goes on to note that the power to levy taxes can provide

Suggested Citation:"Appendix D: Lessons Learned from Public Health Efforts and Their Relevance to Preventing Childhood Obesity." Institute of Medicine. 2005. Preventing Childhood Obesity: Health in the Balance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11015.
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incentives to engage in healthy behaviors and disincentives to practice risky ones, but also notes that these taxes can be inequitable and regressive.

Most of the public health experience with manipulating economic factors to encourage healthy behaviors or to discourage risky behaviors has been related to excise tax policy on products like tobacco, gasoline, and alcohol. Because of the popularity of increasing tobacco taxes as a public health strategy and the parallels that are frequently drawn between tobacco tax policy and a possible similar tax scheme for certain foods, the following section highlights some of the specific aspects of the taxation of tobacco products.

Tobacco products, like most consumer products, have been shown to be price sensitive; as price increases, consumption decreases. Children have been shown to be most price sensitive, with an approximate 7 percent decrease in consumption for every 10 percent increase in price (DHHS, 2000). As a result of this well-established price elasticity, an excise tax increases on tobacco products has been a common and popular way to reduce adolescent tobacco use, and to increase much-needed state revenue. In 2002-2003, nearly half the states increased their excise tax on tobacco products (Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, 2004). Some states have earmarked or dedicated a portion of the excise tax increase for tobacco prevention or health promotion programs. This approach of excise tax increase and earmarking for prevention programs could be considered to help prevent childhood obesity, especially because one of the most frequently heard argument for not removing vending machines and soft drinks from schools is concerns about loss of much-needed revenue.

It is likely that the same strategy for calorie-dense and low-nutritional-quality foods would have the same effect as seen for tobacco—as price increases, consumption falls. However, it is also likely that efforts to tax these products would be even more difficult than taxing tobacco products. In California, an effort to levy a one-cent excise tax on soft drinks to compensate for the lost revenue from removing soft drinks from vending machines in schools had to be removed in order for the vending machine legislation to pass. Internationally, a plan to tax foods such as dairy products, pastries, chocolates, pizzas, and burgers at a higher rate than other food products was briefly considered, then dismissed as unworkable by the British government (Food Navigator, 2004). Jacobson and Brownell (2000) suggest that to avoid the possible negative reaction to the levying of large excise taxes on soft drinks and snack foods, municipalities should consider small tax increases, and the proceeds from these increases should be used to fund health promotion programs, including subsidizing the availability of healthier food choices. The American Public Health Association adopted a similar policy recommendation at its 2003 annual meeting (APHA, 2003).

In addition to considering excise taxes on calorie-dense or low-nutri-

Suggested Citation:"Appendix D: Lessons Learned from Public Health Efforts and Their Relevance to Preventing Childhood Obesity." Institute of Medicine. 2005. Preventing Childhood Obesity: Health in the Balance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11015.
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tional-quality foods, incentives or subsidies to make fruits and vegetables more available and affordable could be considered. French and colleagues (1997) reviewed the literature on the relationship between price and consumption of fruits and vegetables and found a consistent pattern, namely that lower prices are associated with higher consumption. In their own empirical work, these researchers found this same pattern among adolescents and found it to be robust across different age groups and food types.

As efforts progress in reducing tobacco use, concern has been expressed about the economic well-being of tobacco farmers and cigarette manufacturing workers and their communities. Similar concerns could be expressed if economic pressures were exerted on certain segments of the food production, manufacturing, and distribution systems.

The Legal and Regulatory Environment

Laws and regulations have become increasingly prominent and effective in improving the public health. Public health law has emerged as a strategic element in planning public health interventions (Goodman et al., 2003), and the IOM has identified law and policy as one of the eight emerging themes for the future of public health training (IOM, 2002). Laws and regulations seem to be one of the few common themes spanning multiple reports from the Ten Greatest Achievements in Public Health to The Guide to Community Preventive Services, and also appear to be an essential factor in successful health-related social movements. The following section discusses the importance of laws, regulations, and litigation.

Laws

Laws have played a critical role in the achievement of many public health accomplishments in the 20th century. Starting with infectious disease control, and moving to public health preparedness, the presence of laws has made the critical difference for public health authorities to safeguard the public health, and correspondingly, the absence of legal authority has consistently served as an impediment. Mensah and his colleagues (2004) reviewed the use of law as a tool for preventing chronic disease with particular attention to the impact of bans or restrictions on public smoking, laws on blood alcohol concentration, food fortification, and the FCTC. In addition to these examples, the public health literature is replete with examples of the use of laws to promote the public health.

With respect to laws related to preventing childhood obesity, there is little related federal legislation, other than efforts to provide liability protection to food and soft drink manufacturers. Therefore, most of the legislative initiatives have occurred at the state level. The Kansas Health Insti-

Suggested Citation:"Appendix D: Lessons Learned from Public Health Efforts and Their Relevance to Preventing Childhood Obesity." Institute of Medicine. 2005. Preventing Childhood Obesity: Health in the Balance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11015.
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tute (2004) recently reviewed obesity-related legislation passed by states between 1999 and 2003.

There are a number of examples of federal legislation with relevance for the prevention of childhood obesity. Review articles attest to the importance of laws in preventing motor vehicle injuries, such as the creation of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in 1970, and the use of federal legislation in implementing conditional funding mechanisms that encourage state legislatures to pass injury prevention laws (IOM, 1999). With respect to firearm legislation, there is a complex structure to keep firearms out of the hands of criminals, but no federal agency has regulatory authority over gun design. A recent report from the Community Preventive Services Taskforce did not find sufficient evidence of the effectiveness of firearms laws, such as bans on specified firearms or ammunition, restrictions on firearm acquisition, waiting periods for firearm acquisition, firearm registration and licensing of firearm owners, “shall issue” concealed weapon carry laws, child access prevention laws, zero tolerance laws for firearms in schools, and combinations of firearms laws in preventing firearm-related injuries (Hahn et al., 2003). As discussed earlier, however, insufficient evidence should not be confused with evidence of ineffectiveness.

Regulation

Legislation often results in administrative actions to regulate products that might have an adverse effect on the public’s health. There does not appear to be a clear relationship between potential harm from products and the level of regulation. For example, food products are relatively tightly regulated, particularly by the FDA as a result of the authority contained in the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. On the other hand, tobacco and gun design are virtually unregulated. The lack of regulation of tobacco products and the public health communities’ call for meaningful FDA regulatory authority may provide a useful framework for the potential that product regulation may play in preventing childhood obesity.

Despite substantial progress in reducing tobacco use, tobacco products continue to be relatively unregulated, although the tobacco industry has made protestations to the contrary (Eriksen and Green, 2002). The 1990s saw unprecedented efforts to regulate tobacco products, with the FDA, under the direction of the President, exerting jurisdiction over tobacco products, only to be rebuffed by the Supreme Court, which ruled that Congress has not provided the FDA with the explicit authority to regulate tobacco products.5

5

FDA v Brown and Williamson.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix D: Lessons Learned from Public Health Efforts and Their Relevance to Preventing Childhood Obesity." Institute of Medicine. 2005. Preventing Childhood Obesity: Health in the Balance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11015.
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Food products, on the other hand, do come under FDA authority and are clearly regulated in terms of certain aspects of health and safety, including nutritional labeling and health claims. However, the FDA does not currently regulate the nutritional content of food products, portion size, or marketing strategies. Currently, if a food product were to make an unjustified health claim, the FDA could act. Similarly, if the advertising were deemed to be false, misleading, or deceptive, the FTC could take action. However, concerns about food product marketing are not focused primarily on health claims or deception, but rather focus on making calorie-dense and low-nutritional-quality food particularly attractive to children. So, it is unlikely that traditional FDA or FTC authority would help in the area of greatest concern regarding marketing unhealthful food products to children.

If governmental regulation is not likely or possible, mandatory industry standards could be considered to guide minimum nutrient content, portion size, and marketing of products targeted to children. In addition to federal regulation, local authorities also have the ability to regulate food products, particularly in the areas of licensing, sampling, zoning restrictions, land use (Ashe et al., 2003), and conditional use permits (Bolen and Kline, 2003). Local restrictions on advertising may be more difficult with regards to First Amendment considerations and free speech. Local efforts to regulate tobacco ads have often been stymied because of federal preemptive legislation. The same pre-emption of local authority may not exist for local control over food marketing.

Litigation

In addition to laws and regulation, litigation has recently become a powerful tool in preventing product-related injuries and ensuring the public health in areas such as tobacco, gun violence, and lead paint. In a recent review, Vernick and colleagues (2003) conclude that although litigation is not a perfect tool, it is an important one, and one that has made some products safer. Parmet and Daynard (2000) reach similar conclusions and agree that litigation can deter dangerous activities and contribute to the public health. However, both reviews agree that there is a dearth of empirical evidence on the actual impact of litigation, but litigation appears to have a modest and important role in protecting the public’s health. Others argue that product liability litigation has unacceptable social costs and may diminish the role of personal responsibility. Everyone agrees, however, that litigation has played an extremely important role in tobacco control (Jacobson and Warner, 1999), and many see that experience as a model for preventing obesity (Mello et al., 2003).

Suggested Citation:"Appendix D: Lessons Learned from Public Health Efforts and Their Relevance to Preventing Childhood Obesity." Institute of Medicine. 2005. Preventing Childhood Obesity: Health in the Balance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11015.
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For tobacco control, the 1990s were the era of tobacco litigation. A myriad of individual, class action, and state Attorney General suits transformed the tobacco control environment and resulted in lasting change in the way tobacco products are marketed and how the public views tobacco companies. Perhaps of most note, the MSA of November 1998 required the participating tobacco companies to agree to restrict certain marketing practices, disband trade associations, reform their corporate behavior, and provide hundreds of billions of dollars to settling states over the next 25 years (Schroeder, 2004). In addition to significant financial disgorgement, tobacco litigation in the 1990s also resulted in an unprecedented level of tobacco industry document disclosure that has served as a treasure trove of insight, scholarship, and, perhaps most importantly, changed the social-normative opinion of the general public toward tobacco companies (Bero, 2003).

With respect to food-related litigation, there have been some initial attempts to sue fast food restaurants based on the claim that they are at least partially responsible for the epidemic of childhood obesity, and for other reasons, such as consumer safety (e.g., excessive temperature of coffee resulting in customer harm). To date, these efforts have been less than successful, but are widely seen as the vanguard of future litigation efforts (Mello et al., 2003). In fact, attorneys experienced in tobacco litigation recently sponsored a conference to develop strategies and resources to direct individual and class action efforts toward the problems of childhood obesity.

At this point, it is not clear whether these efforts will follow the tobacco model and be successful in obtaining settlements or court victories. The process of discovery is likely to yield internal documents that could be damaging to, at least, the public’s perception of food companies. On the other hand, the current cases have tended to be seen by the public as frivolous, and as disregarding the dimension of personal responsibility. In response to the increase in litigation directed against food severs and manufacturers, Senator Mitch McConnell, a pro-tobacco legislator from Kentucky, introduced “The Common Sense for Consumption Act,” which seeks to stop frivolous law suits against restaurants and the food industry (Higgins, 2003). A dozen states have introduced legislation aimed at prohibiting lawsuits against food and beverage manufacturers for obesity-related health problems (Campos, 2004). This approach is consonant with the effort to provide immunity to manufacturers and distributors of potentially harmful products such as tobacco, alcohol, and guns. Congress is currently considering providing immunity to gun manufacturers and dealers from civil suits by victimized families and local governments (New York Times, 2004). Public attitudes toward suing fast food restaurants, docu-

Suggested Citation:"Appendix D: Lessons Learned from Public Health Efforts and Their Relevance to Preventing Childhood Obesity." Institute of Medicine. 2005. Preventing Childhood Obesity: Health in the Balance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11015.
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ments obtained through discovery, and federal efforts at tort reform are all likely to shape the litigation environment over the next few years.

Prevention and Treatment Programs

In addition to the effects of product marketing, different environments, economic factors, and laws on health-related behaviors, there is also the strong and direct role played by individual efforts and planned interventions to improve health behaviors. The impact of specific interventions on public health success stories is described earlier in this paper. It is not the intent here to review the literature on the quality of the scientific evidence for changing dietary behaviors, but rather to highlight lessons from other public health areas that may have some utility for multiple health problems, and may be generalizable to preventing childhood obesity.

School-Based Interventions

As previously discussed, school-based programs appear to have robust and generalizable benefits to a number of public health programs, including oral health, motor vehicle safety, and tobacco control. With respect to tobacco use prevention programs, evidence has found them to be effective, especially those that have been conducted in coordination with comprehensive community and mass-media prevention programs (DHHS, 1994; Jago and Baranowski, 2004). It is likely that school-based nutrition and physical activity programs could be even more effective in preventing childhood obesity than school tobacco programs are in reducing tobacco use (Dietz and Gortmaker, 2001). This opinion is due to the fact that nutrition and physical activity behaviors are a normal part of every school day and public health approaches could be fairly easily adopted and implemented. Vending machine policies, school breakfast and lunch programs, and required physical activity programs are all significant components to childhood obesity prevention programs in which schools can play a constructive role.

Media Campaigns

Mass-media efforts that build on sophisticated marketing approaches can also be effective in improving dietary behavior and increasing physical activity levels among young people. In tobacco control, themes of tobacco industry manipulation, the health effects of involuntary smoking on nonsmokers, and graphic depictions of the harm of smoking among real people have proven to be effective (Hersey et al., 2004; Sowden and Arblaster, 2004). It is not clear whether these themes will be relevant for preventing

Suggested Citation:"Appendix D: Lessons Learned from Public Health Efforts and Their Relevance to Preventing Childhood Obesity." Institute of Medicine. 2005. Preventing Childhood Obesity: Health in the Balance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11015.
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childhood obesity, particularly the extent to which the practices and behavior of food companies will be exploited.

Individual and Clinical Efforts

Historically, the mainstay of efforts to reduce the burden of obesity has focused on individual and clinical efforts. There are well-established interventions for both preventing and controlling obesity, but the challenge now is take the individual and clinical efforts and to extend them so as to have a population effect. The same is the case with helping smokers quit smoking (Fiore et al., 2004). Most smokers would like to quit and wish they had never started, but overcoming nicotine addiction is difficult, with most successful quitters making multiple attempts before achieving success. Smoking cessation is extremely important in order to make public health progress during the next few decades. The public health benefit from cessation is almost immediate, while the benefit from keeping children from starting to smoke will not be reaped for decades. While both prevention and treatment are important, the benefits from treatment or cessation will accrue more quickly. The same is likely to be true for obesity and its sequelae.

Most successful smoking cessation is achieved through individual self-help efforts. Pharmacologic interventions are assuming increasing importance, as is physician counseling, but still, most smokers quit on their own. Similarly, it is important to understand the relative importance of self-help versus medical or health professions intervention in the prevention and treatment of childhood obesity. Because of the lifestyle behaviors associated with obesity (diet and physical activity), it is likely that individual, self-help interventions will be common, but also that the role of the health-care professional is critical, particularly that of the pediatrician (Dietz and Gortmaker, 2001; AAP, 2003).

Efforts to quit smoking may be initially successful, but after a few days or weeks they are plagued by relapse. In fact, after a year, only about 30 percent of short-term quitters have achieved long-term abstinence. Again, a similar situation exists for obesity prevention and treatment, where long-term success in weight loss is often even more elusive than that for smoking cessation.

The Social Environment

The social environment—the way in which citizens, communities, the private sector, and governments interact to create norms and expectations—is a subtle but essential dimension of health-related social movements. Concern about the increase in alcohol-related motor vehicle fatalities created an

Suggested Citation:"Appendix D: Lessons Learned from Public Health Efforts and Their Relevance to Preventing Childhood Obesity." Institute of Medicine. 2005. Preventing Childhood Obesity: Health in the Balance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11015.
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environment receptive to increases in public involvement and support for public policies to reduce the harm caused by alcohol-impaired driving (DeJong and Hingson, 1998; Shults et al., 2001). The popularity of designated drivers, minimum legal drinking age, blood alcohol concentration laws, community traffic safety programs, and other interventions are a direct result of changing social norms. The desire of nonsmokers to be protected from exposure to secondhand smoke is a critical element in changing the tobacco control environment and how smoking is perceived in society. As a result of nonsmokers’ rights advocacy, most workplaces are smoke-free, serum cotinine levels have been reduced by nearly 75 percent in the last decade (CDC, 2003), and the social norms associated with smoking have been permanently changed. It is not clear, however, that the prevention of childhood obesity has a dimension that can serve as a parallel to nonsmokers’ exposure to secondhand smoke.

There are a number of possible ways to engage the interest and involvement of society in the issue of childhood obesity in a similar way that it has been secured by other public health problems. One way, which is already happening, is the increasing public concern about the magnitude of the problem and the need for collective action. Given the rapid increase in the prevalence of childhood obesity, the “visibility” of the problem, and the seriousness of the problem for the affected individuals, social and normative change is already beginning to occur. Further, the social costs of obesity that are being borne by society as a whole, suggest the appropriateness of collective and policy interventions.

One of the biggest changes in the social environment for tobacco control is that some tobacco companies are beginning to acknowledge that their products are harmful and addicting. Despite the decades of scientific evidence on the adverse health effects of tobacco use, tobacco companies, primarily for legal reasons, have denied the harm and addictiveness of tobacco products. As a result of the MSA, tobacco companies have begun to become more candid about the harm caused by their products, both in public statements and on their websites. But the level of candor is not consistent among all companies, nor is it consistent in all instances, especially in litigation, where companies tend to continue to deny that their product contributed to the harm claimed by the plaintiff.

At this point in time, it is not clear how the food industry will respond to social and public health pressures to limit marketing of unhealthful products to children and to assume at least partial responsibility for the epidemic of childhood obesity in this country and around the world (Daynard, 2003). However, some change has already begun, with companies such as Kraft announcing changes in portion size and fat content in some of the products most popular with children. Like tobacco companies, it is likely that the food industry will not respond monolithically. Instead

Suggested Citation:"Appendix D: Lessons Learned from Public Health Efforts and Their Relevance to Preventing Childhood Obesity." Institute of Medicine. 2005. Preventing Childhood Obesity: Health in the Balance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11015.
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those market leaders that can afford to have market share frozen, or those companies that want to be perceived as a leader, or can carve out a “health” niche with their customers, will likely respond differently from other companies.

If the tobacco experience is any guide, it is likely that the food companies will act just enough to avoid government regulation, but will fall short on making structural changes in product design or marketing that will fundamentally alter their marker position. To date, companies have been much more comfortable with educational campaigns emphasizing personal responsibility and the need for increased physical activity than with proposing major policy or structural changes.6

In trying to anticipate possible changes in corporate behavior, it should be remembered that marketing and selling unhealthy food, as opposed to tobacco for minors, is completely legal. On the other hand, document discovery has not yet taken place, and if it does, it may change public perceptions pertaining to the legality versus morality of marketing to children those products with known adverse health effects.

The recognition for collaborative approaches to preventing obesity has already begun, and various governments are beginning to launch broad-based national strategies for tackling obesity (Mayor, 2004). In fact, the WHO approved a Global Strategy for Diet, Physical Activity and Health (WHO, 2004) that calls for multisectoral collaboration to address the increasing global prevalence of obesity.

SUMMARY

Efforts to address contemporary public health problems are often difficult to evaluate for a number of reasons including the urgency and need for a rapid response, the lack of classical experimental design, often not having an unexposed control group, difficulty in measuring social factors, and not understanding the dynamics between social forces and health behaviors (McQueen, 2002).

While difficult, it is important to understand the factors that contribute to public health advances and the reasons for the failure of unsuccessful public health programs. This is particularly true as we face new problems that have complex, multifactorial, and often commercially linked dimensions. Rather than “reinventing the wheel,” making mistakes previously made, or overlooking interventions that have been shown to be effective, it

6

For example, see the website of the American Council on Food and Nutrition, http://www.acfn.org/about/, or the Center for Consumer Freedom, http://www.consumerfreedom.com/.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix D: Lessons Learned from Public Health Efforts and Their Relevance to Preventing Childhood Obesity." Institute of Medicine. 2005. Preventing Childhood Obesity: Health in the Balance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11015.
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is prudent to look at other public health experiences when developing strategies to reduce public health problems, such as the prevention of childhood obesity.

In reviewing other public health experiences and determining if there are lessons for preventing childhood obesity, it is useful to compare and contrast the similarities and differences between the other public health problems and the causes of childhood obesity. For example, when one compares the prevention of tobacco use to the prevention of childhood obesity, the first and most obvious difference is that tobacco use, from a public health standpoint, is a behavior to be avoided; it presents a serious health risk and no health benefit. Diet and physical activity, on the other hand, are essentials of life, cannot be avoided, and must be kept in balance to ensure good health. Thus, for tobacco, there is the simple message of avoidance, whereas for diet and physical activity there is the much more complex message that includes concepts such as quality, quantity, frequency, and balance (Mercer et al., 2003; Yach et al., 2003).

In summary, the “environmental classifications” of types of intervention strategies may serve as a useful template to determine the utility of different public health interventions for the prevention of childhood obesity. More broadly, categories such as these may be useful in conceptualizing intervention strategies for various public health problems. To increase the utility of this approach, and determine the relevance of specific public health interventions, it may be useful to further analyze the public health problem in terms of specific criteria to ascertain the similarity of certain problems and the likelihood that an approach that was successful with one public health problem, may be generalizable to another. Possible criteria for comparison could include:

  • Description of the behavior (addictiveness, possible health benefits, legal aspects)

  • Epidemiologic significance (number of deaths, disease burden)

  • Clear understanding of etiology

  • Feasibility of change

  • Availability of effective interventions

  • Level of public interest and awareness

  • Extent to which public is affected by problem

  • Salience to policy makers

  • Nature of relation with product manufacturer

  • Role of government

  • Degree of product regulation

  • International dimensions

Suggested Citation:"Appendix D: Lessons Learned from Public Health Efforts and Their Relevance to Preventing Childhood Obesity." Institute of Medicine. 2005. Preventing Childhood Obesity: Health in the Balance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11015.
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CONCLUDING PRINCIPLES AND IMPLICATIONS

Individual Responsibility Versus Collective Action

One of the greatest challenges in our efforts to prevent childhood obesity is to strike the right balance between individual versus structural or environmental efforts. With tobacco control, most observers believe that major progress was not achieved until clinical efforts in smoking cessation were subjugated to policy efforts to change the social environment. This same debate is central to our efforts in preventing childhood obesity (Kersh and Morone, 2002; Zernike, 2003). As with many public health problems, a critical issue is the role of coercion versus individual rights, and striking the appropriate balance between commercial interests and the common good (Gostin, 2000).

Need to Change Social Norms About Food and Physical Activity

Fifty years ago, smoking was the norm. The majority of men smoked, smoking was widely advertised on television and radio, and smoking could occur anywhere, including airplanes, schools, hospitals, and doctor’s offices. Today, the situation is reversed, with smoking no longer being normative, and nearly considered, if not a deviant behavior, at least one that is typically done in private. Fifty million Americans have quit smoking and there are more ex-smokers than current smokers. No one could have predicted the magnitude of change in perceptions and public opinion that has occurred with tobacco, but similar changes are possible with respect to food and physical activity. Today, foods are “super-sized” to provide the most food or value for the dollar, but with virtually no consideration for diet or health. While there is nothing wrong in seeking “value,” it is not inconceivable that, in the future, health considerations will enter the equation in calculating “value.” Similarly, nearly all smokers who quit, enjoyed smoking a great deal, but quit because they were more concerned about their health than they were about the pleasure of smoking. The same can be achieved with food.

Learn from Other Public Health Experiences, But Don’t Necessarily Duplicate

Much has been learned from the successes, and continuing challenges, in previous public health experiences. However, there are major differences in these earlier efforts and efforts to prevent childhood obesity. The differences are particularly striking for tobacco control. Most notably, people need to eat, but do not need to smoke. In addition, it is illegal to sell tobacco products to minors, marketing to minors is prohibited, and non-

Suggested Citation:"Appendix D: Lessons Learned from Public Health Efforts and Their Relevance to Preventing Childhood Obesity." Institute of Medicine. 2005. Preventing Childhood Obesity: Health in the Balance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11015.
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smokers’ rights is a powerful social movement that has changed public norms related to smoking. None of these elements exist for preventing childhood obesity. From a macroperspective, and although progress has taken decades, tobacco control is relatively simple compared to the complexities presented by childhood obesity. Accordingly, childhood obesity prevention strategies should be developed with an appreciation for this complexity.

The Role of the Food Industry Is Critical but Uncertain

Part of the success of the tobacco control movement has been the attacks on and marginalization of the tobacco companies. This was a fairly predictable strategy because of their intransigence over decades and the harm resulting from a product that, when used as intended, kills one out of two lifetime users. While predictable, this strategy has also been effective in changing social norms and focusing youth empowerment against tobacco industry tactics. At this point, it is unclear whether a similar strategy directed against food companies is warranted or would be effective. This question will be partially answered by the extent to which food companies deal honestly and constructively with the obesity epidemic, including a candid assessment of their role in helping to create it (Revill, 2003). To the extent that commercial interests respond, if not lead, on behalf of the public good, they may obviate the need for government action. To the extent that they fail, government action will be demanded (Yach et al., 2003). In either respect, it appears clear to most that the overall environment in which food products are produced, marketed, and sold, must be improved (Ebbeling et al., 2002).

The Problem Is Multifactorial, and So Must Be the Solutions

Based on the experience with many different public health problems (e.g., tobacco control, motor vehicle and firearm injuries), it seems clear that comprehensive and multifactorial approaches are required. At a minimum these approaches should address both the individual behaviors and the social environment in which these behaviors take place, particularly the marketing, price, availability, and accessibility related to both dietary and physical activity behaviors. It is important to avoid glib and simple solutions to complex and poorly understood problems.

Need Evidence on Best Practices and Effective Interventions

The rise in childhood obesity is well documented, but less well understood. The relationships among and relative contribution of dietary factors,

Suggested Citation:"Appendix D: Lessons Learned from Public Health Efforts and Their Relevance to Preventing Childhood Obesity." Institute of Medicine. 2005. Preventing Childhood Obesity: Health in the Balance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11015.
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the social environment, and physical activity need to be better understood to develop effective interventions (BMJ, 2004). Recent reports by the APA (2004) and the Kaiser Family Foundation (2004) advance the understanding of the role of the media in childhood obesity, but similar analyses are needed for other aspects of childhood obesity prevention, such as the role of fast foods and soft drinks, and how the social environment can be structured to contribute to the prevention of childhood obesity. For tobacco control, we may not know all the answers, but we know enough to make a difference. Research underlies tobacco control guidelines and recommendations, and similar research, recommendations, and guidelines are being developed for preventing childhood obesity. Once the relative effectiveness of various interventions is better known, there needs to be a concerted effort to disseminate and implement approaches that have been found to be effective. The lack of emphasis on the systematic diffusion of effective interventions has plagued multiple public health initiatives.

Need to Consider the Global Dimension

The epidemic of childhood obesity first appeared in the United States, but every indication is that it is beginning to appear in other developed countries, as well as in the developing world. The global implications of our domestic solutions should be considered, so we do not solve our problems by creating a larger one overseas (Yach et al., 2003; WHO, 2004).

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Suggested Citation:"Appendix D: Lessons Learned from Public Health Efforts and Their Relevance to Preventing Childhood Obesity." Institute of Medicine. 2005. Preventing Childhood Obesity: Health in the Balance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11015.
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix D: Lessons Learned from Public Health Efforts and Their Relevance to Preventing Childhood Obesity." Institute of Medicine. 2005. Preventing Childhood Obesity: Health in the Balance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11015.
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix D: Lessons Learned from Public Health Efforts and Their Relevance to Preventing Childhood Obesity." Institute of Medicine. 2005. Preventing Childhood Obesity: Health in the Balance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/11015.
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Children's health has made tremendous strides over the past century. In general, life expectancy has increased by more than thirty years since 1900 and much of this improvement is due to the reduction of infant and early childhood mortality. Given this trajectory toward a healthier childhood, we begin the 21st-century with a shocking development—an epidemic of obesity in children and youth. The increased number of obese children throughout the U.S. during the past 25 years has led policymakers to rank it as one of the most critical public health threats of the 21st-century.

Preventing Childhood Obesity provides a broad-based examination of the nature, extent, and consequences of obesity in U.S. children and youth, including the social, environmental, medical, and dietary factors responsible for its increased prevalence. The book also offers a prevention-oriented action plan that identifies the most promising array of short-term and longer-term interventions, as well as recommendations for the roles and responsibilities of numerous stakeholders in various sectors of society to reduce its future occurrence. Preventing Childhood Obesity explores the underlying causes of this serious health problem and the actions needed to initiate, support, and sustain the societal and lifestyle changes that can reverse the trend among our children and youth.

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