National Nutrition Summit, May 30, 2000: Results of the obesity discussiongroups

On May 30th and 31st, 2000, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service s and the U.S. Department of Agriculture held the National Nutrition Summit in Washington, DC. The Summit provided an opportunity to highlight accompl ishments in the areas of food, nutrition, and health since the landmark 196 9 White House Conference on Food, Nutrition, and Health to identify continu ing challenges and emerging opportunities for the nation in these areas; an d to focus on nutrition and lifestyle issues across the life span, particul arly those related to the nation's epidemic of overweight and obesity. The Division of Nutrition and Physical Activity, National Center for Chroni c Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention set the agenda for the seven obesity-related discussion grou ps of the National Nutrition Summit. The groups discussed the influences on obesity related to the following: 1)community physical activity environmen ts, 2) community food environment, 3) family, 4) school, 5) worksite, 6) he althcare system, and 7) media. The discussion groups were open to all who w ished to attend, Discussants were asked to identify actionable priorities a nd, for each priority, to capture relevant ideas, considerations, barriers and possible collaborators. The six overarching themes that emerged from the obesity discussion groups (not in priority order) were as follows: 1) Supportive environments to prom ote and practice healthy behaviors are needed, 2) Interventions should use multichannel and culturally relevant approaches to target high-risk groups such as inactive children and youth who have high exposure to the top of th e Food Guide Pyramid. 3) Prevention and treatment of obesity must become a healthcare priority if the obesity epidemic is to be reversed. 4) Additiona l research is needed in the areas of behavioral change, cost-effectiveness of interventions, and identification of exemplary practices and programs to change population behaviors, 5) Better federal agency coordination is need ed along with more partnerships of public and private interests at the fede ral, state, and local levels. 6) National campaigns are needed that target specific behavioral change.