Preventing Overweight and Obesity - Using The Media To Communicate The Prevention Message

The Surgeon General's Call to Action underscored the pivotal role of the media in prevention efforts. The media can communicate and educate the public about healthy behaviors and health risks associated with overweight and obesity. They can introduce and reinforce prevention messages from health-care professionals and can assist to alter attitudes and perceptions by celebrating healthy eating and physical activity.

Beginning in 1999 the International Food Information Council Foundation has tracked the explosion of media FIGURE 10.6
Pre-test Fit Check coverage of overweight and obesity. The Council reported that the number of stories skyrocketed from just 395 for the twelve-month period ending September 30, 2000, to 4,767 for the twelve months ending September 30, 2003. This increase reflected both an increasing volume of coverage as well as an increase in the number of media outlets reporting about diet, overweight, and obesity.

The World Health Organization cautioned about judicious use of the media to combat the obesity epidemic. In a June 26, 2003, press release, "WHO Encourages Media to Put Obesity in Perspective," Dr. Derek Yach, the WHO executive director for noncommunicable diseases and mental health, asserted that the media's fixation on obesity threatens to overshadow efforts to improve global health. Yach said "Of course obesity is important but it isn't the only issue, and we wouldn't want that to be seen as the only issue." He also said he believed the WHO would oppose measures such as "fat taxes" intended to discourage consumption of high-fat foods. Yach offered that food manufacturers have expressed to the WHO their FIGURE 10.7
Things I learned and did this summer willingness to produce more healthful products, and he explained that based on recommendations from the World Bank, the WHO does not feel that manipulating taxes to modify consumption is advisable and that it could have undesirable effects.

FIGURE 10.8
Centers for Disease Control funding for physical activity and nutrition programs to address chronic diseases and obesity, fiscal year 2002

FIGURE 10.9
Obesity trends* among adults, Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, 1991–2002