The politics of obesity: a current assessment and look ahead.
BACKGROUND
The continuing rise in obesity rates across the United States has proved impervious to clinical treatment or public health exhortation, necessitating policy responses. Nearly a decade's worth of political debates may be hardening into an obesity issue regime, comprising established sets of cognitive frames, stakeholders, and policy options.


METHODS
This article is a survey of reports on recently published studies.


RESULTS
Much of the political discussion regarding obesity is centered on two "frames," personal-responsibility and environmental, yielding very different sets of policy responses. While policy efforts at the federal level have resulted in little action to date, state and/or local solutions such as calorie menu labeling and the expansion of regulations to reduce unhealthy foods at school may have more impact.


CONCLUSIONS
Obesity politics is evolving toward a relatively stable state of equilibrium, which could make comprehensive reforms to limit rising obesity rates less feasible. Therefore, to achieve meaningful change, rapid-response research identifying a set of promising reforms, combined with concerted lobbying action, will be necessary.
Kersh
Rogan
R
NYU Wagner School, New York University, 295 Lafayette Street, New York, NY 10012, USA. rk79@nyu.edu
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002149:Energy Intake; D005260:Female; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D018673:Nutrition Policy / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D009752:Nutritional Status; D009753:Nutritive Value; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D011057:Politics; D012572:School Health Services; D040241:Social Marketing; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology