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This issue of Family & Community Health focuses on one of the most talked about topics in America and most other nations, which is the prevention and/or control of obesity. According to a study published in the American Journal of Public Health by Masters et al, obesity accounts for 18% of deaths among black and white Americans between the ages of 40 and 85.1 The problem of obesity is equally significant among children and adolescents, with approximately 16% and 33% of children and adolescents, respectively, being obese.2 Obesity is easy to recognize and much harder to prevent and control. Much of the obesity in the United States is attributed to the quality of the diet people eat and the lack of consistent and adequate exercise.

  

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In children, obesity is considered to exist when a child weighs 10% more than his or her recommended weight for height and body type. Obesity tends to begin at the ages of 5 or 6 years, and it is thought that a child who is obese between the ages of 10 and 13 years has an 80% chance of becoming an obese adult.2

 

The causes of obesity are complex. They include genetic, biological, behavioral, and cultural factors. That said, less than 1% of obesity is caused by physical problems. Obesity is associated with a number of serious health problems including increased risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, osteoarthritis, and some types of cancer.3 In general, the most significant causes of obesity are related to poor eating habits, lack of exercise, stressful life events, family problems, or low self-esteem and depression.2

 

Preventing obesity is a public health problem. The entire community should be involved including the family, schools, childcare settings, health care providers, the media, and the food and beverage industry. The articles in this issue describe a variety of creative ways to intervene in the obesity epidemic.

 

Jeanette Lancaster

 

REFERENCES

1. Masters RK, Reither EN, Powers DA, et al. The impact of obesity on US mortality levels: the importance of age and cohort factors in population estimates. Am J Public Health. 2013;103(10):1895-1901. [Context Link]

2. American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. Facts for families. http://www.aacap.org. Published March 2011. Accessed September 27, 2013. [Context Link]

3. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Childhood obesity facts. http://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/obesity/facts.htm. Reviewed July 10, 2013. Accessed September 27, 3013. [Context Link]

BOOKS AVAILABLE FOR REVIEW

The following books are available for review. ContactJeanette Lancaster at mailto:[email protected] if you wouldlike to do a book review:

1. Booth A, Brown SL, Landale NS, et al., eds. Early Adulthood in a Family Context. Springer; 2013.

2. Chuang SS, Tamis-LeMonda CS, eds. Gender roles in immigrant families. Springer; 2013.

3. Holsinger JW, ed. Contemporary public health: principles, practice and policy. University of Kentucky Press; 2013.

4. McDaniel SH, Doherty WJ, Hepworth J. Medical family therapy and integrated care. ed 2, American Psychological Association, 2014.

CALL FOR PAPERS

1. Deadline December 20, 2013.

2. 51st International Making Cities Livable Conference on "Making Cities Healthy for All," Portland, OR, June 8-12, 2014.

At this conference, we shall pay special attention to effective public health and planning strategies and visionary design solutions to making our cities and suburbs healthy and livable for ALL-young and old, poor as well as well-to-do, and those with health and mobility issues.

The conference will bring together 350 to 400 delegates- world-renowned experts, elected officials, practitioners and scholars in planning, and transportation planning, public health, urban design, architecture, landscape architecture, and social sciences to better understand how the built environment affects health and well-being, and to learn from the most successful solutions around the world.

Topics include the following:

1. Healthy, equitable land use and urban planning

2. Integrating public health and planning

3. Active Mobility and Complete streets

4. Achieving neighborhood health equity

5. Reclaiming the public realm

6. Family-friendly housing

7. Building lifetime community districts

8. Reshaping suburban sprawl

9. A healthy city for children

10. Food environments

11. Green cities

12. Preventing and ending homelessness

13. Generating community participation

14. Learning from Portland

For more information about presentation topics, please visit http://www.livablecities.org/conferences/51st-imcl-conference/conference-topics.

Those wishing to present papers should submit a 250-word abstract for consideration before December 20, 2013 (extended deadline for readers of Family & Community Health. Please submit online, following the Call for Papers Guidelines on the Web at http://www.livablecities.org/conferences/51st-conference-portland/call-papers.