The Weight of the Nation

On May 14th, HBO will be premiering a new a series called the “Weight of the Nation”. The focus of this series is on the epidemic of overweight and obesity in this country.

One of the key themes in this series is that the physical and social environment in which people live has a lot to do with their risk of becoming overweight or obese. This is counter to the idea which suggests that obesity is largely an individual problem related to discipline, willpower and personal responsibility.  

In anticipation of the series premiere, the Washington Post has published a brief interview with one of the series’ primary contributors, Marlene Schwartz, Deputy Director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity and Yale University. I’m providing a link to this interview because I think Dr. Schwartz provides a simple, clear-eyed and compelling rationale for focusing efforts on the systems, policies and environments that predispose individuals and communities towards obesity, as opposed for instance to a purely educational approach.
  
I hope that this new series spurs much more dialogue on the matter.

- Doug Hirano, MPH, APCA Executive Director