On this month's cover is a colorful celebration of summer: a farmer's market selling seasonal fruits and vegetables-and a reminder of the healthful foods that should be on everyone's plate no matter the season. In case we needed a reminder to watch what we eat, in May the Institute of Medicine published a new consensus report, Accelerating Progress in Obesity Prevention: Solving the Weight of the Nation, in which it summarized the current state of obesity in the United States and identified recommendations for ways to prevent it.
According to this report, obesity-related disability and illness cost the United States $190.2 billion annually, which is nearly 21% of our annual medical spending and includes the costs of managing the sequelae of obesity: high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, depression, sleep apnea, and cardiovascular disease. An astonishing one-third of children and two-thirds of adults in the United States today are overweight or obese and at risk for these complications. For more on the epidemic of obesity in this country, see this month's Editorial.-Alison Bulman, senior editorial coordinator