Description
Presenter: Sylvia Rowe, International Food Information Council and IFIC Foundation
Rates of overweight and obesity have skyrocketed in the United States — over 61 percent of Americans are overweight or obese. In the Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Prevent and Decrease Overweight and Obesity, released in December 2001, it is estimated that 300,000 deaths a year may be attributable to obesity. The Call to Action further notes that obesity is a leading cause of preventable death — second only to tobacco use. The Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stated that,“Obesity is the health problem of the century.”
