Overweight and obesity prevention framework- A health promotion approach. Advocacy for the control and prevention of overweight and obesity.

Abstract

The conditions that give rise to overweight and obesity are complex, with multiple and interrelated causes. Prevention efforts benefit from an approach that relies on the combination of multiple interventions. Health promotion provides a useful framework for conceptualizing and implementing actions to reduce overweight and obesity since it involves a combination of educational, behavioral, environmental, and policy approaches. This summary draws on data from a range of settings to characterize the effectiveness of various interventions embedded within the health promotion approach. Interventions considered part of the health promotion approach include: Economic interventions; Organizational interventions; Policy interventions; and Health education interventions, including the use of media, school and community education and public awareness programs. The behaviours central to obesity prevention and control are physical activity and nutrition. Numerous programs have been implemented focusing on either one or both of these behaviours with the aim of reducing or controlling body weight. Extensive systematic reviews have identified relatively few strategies that have been evaluated as being effective. Health education interventions alone that have insufficient evidence for effectiveness include school education programs. Programs that have been effective, or that have shown potential have generally been comprised of multiple components where health education is supported by economic, organizational and policy actions. Because each intervention builds on the strengths of every other one, ecological approaches to reducing obesity problems using all four components of the health promotion model are likely to be the most effective.