Federal Government

Elected officials and agency administrators should serve as leaders to raise awareness about the consequences of the childhood obesity epidemic and the most promising strategies for reversing it.  

• Congress should designate a responsible agency to monitor and evaluate the self-regulatory guidelines of the Children’s Advertising Review Unit (CARU), as well as other industry pledges and agreements, and should publicize the results of all evaluations annually.
• The Federal Trade Commission should monitor the marketing and advertisement of unhealthy foods and beverages to children through television and other non-traditional marketing techniques, such as product placements, contests, games, toys and entertainment tie-ins.
• Congress should enact legislation mandating strict limitations on advertising high-calorie and low-nutrient foods and beverages during children’s television programming on both broadcast and cable television if voluntary efforts are unsuccessful.
• The federal, executive and legislative branches should publicize the outcomes of evaluations for all federally supported obesity-prevention initiatives to promote transparency and build the evidence base about what works most effectively to prevent and reduce childhood obesity.
•  The Food and Drug Administration should revise the Nutrition Facts panel to provide the total calorie content per package in addition to information per serving.

State Governments

State officials also can work to raise awareness and empower children and families to make better-informed decisions about the products they use and businesses they patronize. 

• Require fast-food and other chain restaurants to include nutritional data on their menus at the point of sale, including information about calories and fat. 
• Publicize the outcomes of evaluations for all state-supported obesity-prevention initiatives, both to promote transparency and to build the evidence base about what works most effectively to prevent and reduce childhood obesity.
• Require health impact assessments for new transportation projects, zoning changes or community and housing development projects and share the results publicly.
• Monitor and evaluate industry agreements to improve the nutritional content of food and beverage products, eliminate unhealthy foods in schools, and restrict the marketing of unhealthy food products in places where children are likely to gather.
• Require periodic fitness and body mass index assessments for all public school students and provide confidential health reports for individual students to parents and guardians, as well as aggregate reports to communities, government officials and public health agencies.
• Publish all agreements between schools and private industry related to food and beverage marketing.
• Assess and publish state nutrition and physical activity standards for children to ensure public accountability.

Local Governments

Local governments should support citizens and community- and faith-based organizations in their efforts to raise awareness and mobilize resources that promote improved food and activity environments.

• Require fast-food and chain restaurants to include, at a minimum, calorie information on in-store menus and menu boards.
• Raise awareness about the need for the creation, rehabilitation and maintenance of safe and crime-free parks, playgrounds, trails, greenways and other recreation facilities, especially in low-income residential areas.
• Publicize evaluation results of locally supported obesity-prevention initiatives to promote transparency and to build evidence about effective interventions.

Industry

The food and beverage industry also has an important role in building awareness about the urgency of childhood obesity and providing children and families with necessary information to make healthy choices. 

• Emphasize healthy foods and beverages in advertisements that reach high concentrations of children and lower-income families.
• Develop effective communication strategies to educate consumers about salt, sugar, and fat intake.
• Provide, at a minimum, calorie information on in-store menus and menu boards in fast-food and chain restaurants.
• Use innovative packaging and marketing strategies to inform consumers about nutritional content.
• Adopt standards that promote marketing of healthy and nutritious foods and beverages to children.
• Eliminate marketing of unhealthy foods and beverages to children through television and other advertisements, as well as non-traditional marketing techniques like product placements, toy and entertainment tie-ins, contests and games.
• Assure that marketing practices on the Internet, television, in motion pictures and electronic gaming support healthy food and beverage choices—for example, by using licensed characters to promote only healthy options.

Schools and Child-Care Settings

Schools and child-care providers can enhance the public’s understanding of the childhood obesity epidemic by creating and promoting healthy environments and by integrating nutrition and physical activity initiatives throughout their programs and policies.  

• Implement curricula and other initiatives aimed at reducing sedentary screen time and increasing physical activity.
• Integrate information about health, nutrition and physical activity throughout the curriculum and in other school and child-care activities that extend beyond the health education curriculum.
• Fully adopt state and local nutrition and physical activity standards with public accountability for their implementation.
• Support professional development for teachers and principals that promote physical activity and healthy lifestyles.
• Publicly disclose all marketing agreements between schools and private industry related to foods and beverages.
• Support school garden and farm-to-school programs that help children better understand where foods come from and strengthen connections with agriculture.
• Partner with government, professional associations, academic institutions, parent-teacher organizations, foundations and the media to publish and widely disseminate the evaluation results of school-based obesity-prevention efforts.
• Consider developing individual health reports that include physical fitness and body mass index assessments as a screening tool for families.

Community- and Faith-based Organizations

Community organizations can play an important role in raising awareness about the urgency of the childhood obesity epidemic and building the political will needed to facilitate essential policy changes.

• Engage community leaders to support obesity-prevention efforts and educate policy-makers about the most promising policy strategies.
• Promote programs, practices and strategies to prevent unhealthy weight gain throughout child.
• Encourage local health care professionals and their organizations to serve as leaders, role models and champions for obesity-prevention efforts in their communities and faith groups.
• Educate parents about the consequences of childhood obesity and share tools for preventing obesity in their families.
• Promote and recruit volunteers for school garden programs, farmers’ markets and other opportunities to help children better understand where foods come from and strengthen connections with agriculture.
• Assist in the dissemination of promising strategies for preventing childhood obesity in the community and neighboring areas.

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