New Academic Analysis Released and Dr. Richard Carmona Joins the STOP Obesity Alliance as Health and Wellness Chairperson
On Friday, November 2, representatives from the STOP Obesity Alliance Steering Committee joined together for a substantive, productive and engaging meeting. The same day, the Alliance completed an important phase of its action plan with the release of a new academic analysis authored by a research team at The George Washington University (GW) School of Public Health and Health Services (SPHHS). The report, entitled, "Re-visioning Success: How Stigma, Perceptions of Treatment, and Definitions of Success Impact Obesity and Weight Management in America", examines the disconnect between the mounting scientific data demonstrating the negative health and economic results of overweight and obesity, and insufficient public and private sector efforts to combat those results.
The report identifies three barriers to combating obesity in America, and it will serve as the research foundation for policy recommendations that we will release in the upcoming months. The barriers include:
- The definition of success: There is limited agreement today on what constitutes successful weight loss. The result is that people generally have unrealistic expectations of weight loss, and those expectations are often not focused on their individual health needs.
- Perceptions of treatment: With treatment results held to unrealistic definitions of success, many patients and health care professionals believe that the time and effort associated with weight-loss treatments are not justified by the outcomes.
- Stigma: Research shows that as obesity increases in prevalence throughout America, so do stereotypes and discriminatory attitudes. This stigma reinforces a perception that obesity is solely an individual, not a societal, responsibility.
Members of the STOP Obesity Alliance also welcomed Richard H. Carmona, M.D., M.P.H., FACS, 17th U.S. Surgeon General (2002-2006) and President of Canyon Ranch Institute as Health and Wellness Chairperson for the STOP Obesity Alliance Steering Committee. The meeting also involved two new organizational members of the Steering Committee: the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Trust for America's Health. The perspectives brought by these new members brought fresh thinking, new insights and immense value to the conversation.
After the meeting, Dr. Carmona delivered a keynote address at GW to students, faculty and health advocacy organizations, in which he discussed the national impact of obesity.