Researchers from the Yale Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity will be featured in a multi-part series on HBO that addresses the national obesity epidemic. Rudd Center director Kelly Brownell, deputy director Marlene Schwartz, director of research Rebecca Puhl, and director of marketing initiatives Jennifer Harris will join other notable names in obesity research and prevention to discuss one of the nation’s most pressing health issues and offer practical but far-reaching solutions.
“The Weight of the Nation” spotlights the facts and myths of this urgent public health issue, showing how obesity affects the health of the nation and cripples the health care system. The series is produced by HBO and the Institute of Medicine in association with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health, in partnership with the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation and Kaiser Permanente.
According to an HBO press release, more than two-thirds of U.S. adults age 20 and over are overweight or obese, while nearly one-third of the nation’s children and adolescents age two to 19 are overweight or
obese. Obesity contributes to five of the ten leading causes of death in America, including
heart disease, type 2 diabetes, cancer, stroke and kidney disease.
Below is a trailer for Weight of the Nation:
For more information on the series and the nationwide community-based outreach initiative that accompanies it, visit www.hbo.com/theweightofthenation
Thanks for sharing this HBO series. I like how this series is framing obesity as a public health public. Many factors that contributes to obesity (and diabetes) are related to policies and the environment.