title: New Strategies to Prioritize Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity Interventions.
abstract: Interventions for obesity have not often been based on considerations that could predict their effectiveness. However, advances in research provide several new approaches that can inform priorities for public health interventions directed at nutrition, physical activity, and obesity. These approaches include estimation of the effect size, comparison of the calorie gap with the caloric deficit induced by the intervention, population reach and impact, cost and cost effectiveness of the intervention, time required to evaluate the effect of the intervention on weight change, and feasibility of the intervention. Incorporation of these considerations by policymakers and public health practitioners will help identify those interventions most likely to achieve changes in the prevalence of obesity.
authors.affiliation: Sumner M. Redstone Global Center for Prevention and Wellness, George Washington University School of Public Health, Washington, District of Columbia. Electronic address: bdietz@gwu.edu.
authors.forename: William H
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Dietz
authors.affiliation: Department of Social and Behavioral Science, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Steven L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Gortmaker
mesh_terms: D015444:Exercise; D006801:Humans; D044623:Nutrition Therapy; D009765:Obesity / Q000628:therapy*; D000073319:Obesity Management; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care