Another prescription for fat - Letters

Washington Monthly, March, 2002 by Jessie C. Gruman

It's about time someone looked at the obesity epidemic as a public health issue the way Tom Farley and Deborah Cohen did ("Fixing a Fat Nation" December 2001). They note the pervasive advertising and availability of fast food, snack food, and junk food and our cultural habit of consuming sweet and fatty foods as a treat.

Those are powerful determinants of our eating habits and tough influences to overcome. One potential force in the obesity struggle that the article neglected was doctors, who for most of us retain an authoritative role on health matters. It appears that physicians have generally bowed out of the struggle against obesity. Despite the drubbing physicians have taken in the press of late, we still listen to their advice, and many of us try hard to comply with their recommendations. Although there are many effective evidence-based strategies to lose and control weight--all of them involving exercise--a recent study found that only half of physicians say they counsel all their patients about the importance of regular exercise.

JESSIE C. GRUMAN
PRESIDENT, CENTER FOR THE
ADVANCEMENT OF HEALTH
Washington, D.C.