Experts Urge Action Now for Healthier Lifestyles

What is needed now is action, says Enrique Jacoby, regional advisor on healthy eating and healthy living at the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). "Everyone agrees that obesity is going up along with the number of publications about it. The need for action is fundamental and urgent."

Jacoby met with other experts on nutrition and physical activity recently at international meetings in San José, Costa Rica, and Mendoza, Argentina. The San José meeting was organized by PAHO and Costa Rica's Ministry of Health to discuss progress on implementing the World Health Organization's Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health. The Mendoza meeting was organized by PAHO and several "Five-a-Day" groups that promote greater consumption of fruits and vegetables. Participants ranged from educators and scientists to produce growers, marketers, communications specialists, and public health officials.

"Everyone agreed that we need to move beyond research but also beyond mere recommendations about what people should do," says Jacoby. "We need to make the right choices easier. This means acting at the level of public policy: making schools better places, with physical activity and good nutrition; getting the food industry to provide transparent labeling; giving the public better information through effective communication campaigns. It also means protecting children from messages that encourage unhealthy foods."

Don Francisco, of the television show Sábado Gigante, showed up at the San José meeting to offer support for communication campaigns aimed at getting people to eat healthier and engage in more physical activity. He urged special efforts to address the growing problem of childhood obesity.