My Thoughts on the Surgeon General's Report

First of all, did you know that the plural of Surgeon General is Surgeons General? I really like sharing that fun fact with people, so there you go.

Ok, on to bigger and better things. I mentioned a few days ago that the US Surgeon General, Regina Benjamin, released a report that was her "Vision for Healthy and Fit Nation." This evening, while watching Tuesday night's Biggest Loser, I thought I'd take the time to read through it and share with you a few thoughts. If you're interested in reading the full report (just a warning, it's about 20 pages long), you can find it here. Overall I was impressed by the report, here are some key points:

• I REALLY liked that Dr. Benjamin didn't call for sweeping government regulations. She didn't argue for a soda tax (which I am very much against), didn't call for the government to ban unhealthy food or even to enforce stricter menu labeling. Instead, she argues that a combination of factors--personal decisions, schools, the environment and the medical community--can work together to fight obesity.
• My absolute favorite line in the report: "Interventions to prevent obesity should focus not only on personal behaviors and biological traits, but also on characteristics of the social and physical environments that offer or limit opportunities for positive health outcomes." This is just great--and very connected to a lot of what we discuss in my courses at BU--that it's not just about personal decisions. Where we live and the opportunities we are given have a lot to do with our health status. And only by improving the physical and social environments (making communities safer, ensuring that everyone has access to grocery stores, cleaning up parks and allowing kids to play outside) can we really improve our obesity rates.
• Throughout the whole report, there was quite a bit of emphasis placed on breastfeeding as a way to combat obesity. While I do agree with it, I was surprised to see it emphasized so much.
• If I had one criticism of the report, I'd say that I wish it focused a bit more on the food industry, particularly in how it relates to school lunches. While Dr. Benjamin encourages schools to provide nutritious food, it would have been great for her to also pressure those corporations that provide this food to ensure that the food supplied to schools is truly healthy and full of the nutrients that children need. I know that fighting big food companies is a politically difficult thing to do, but that would have been nice to see.

So as I said, I really did like this report. While I wish there had been a tad more fanfare to the release of this report, I do love that this administration is taking a stand against obesity and is trying to come up with new solutions to this growing problem.  As most of you know, I'm running as a part of the Tufts Marathon Challenge, which is raising money to fund new innovative research to fight childhood and adolescent obesity. With your help, we can hopefully find new ways to implement some of Dr. Benjamin's suggestions. Any amount you can contribute would be so so helpful. You can donate online here.

Ok, now that I've rambled for way too long, it's your turn. I know that some of your are at least somewhat interested in public health issues--so what do you think is the best way to fight obesity?