Claudia Kalb, “Culture of Corpulence,” Newsweek, March 22, 2010

This article invokes public-health campaigns of the past, including measures taken to increase seat belt use and stop drunk driving, to call for “big-think solutions” to the nation’s obesity problems. The author outlines the factors that have led to a tripling of obesity rates among teenagers, such as a decrease in physical activity; ubiquitous high-calorie, low-nutrient foods; “rampant” food advertising to children; and food “deserts” in urban areas where the nearest convenience store sells candy and white bread. She quotes Yale’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity head Kelly Brownell as saying, “The country defaults to giving industry the benefit of the doubt. Industry says you don’t need to regulate us; we’ll police ourselves. The tobacco industry abused that with God knows how many lives as a consequence. To expect the food industry to be different may be wishful thinking.”

Among the measures the author recommends to address the problem are sugary-beverage taxes, workplace and school incentives, better nutrition education, youth-advertising restrictions or prohibitions, better food labeling, improved school lunch offerings, and doctor prescriptions for exercise and healthful eating. The efforts of first lady Michelle Obama and the president’s new Task Force on Childhood Obesity are cited, and the article concludes by quoting Robert Wood Johnson Foundation CEO Risa Lavizzo-Mourey: “When we come together as a nation and really commit ourselves, we can do it. If we can get that kind of resolve, we’ll be able to create a legacy of healthy children and a healthier nation.” The author contends, “[o]ur future depends on it.”