Experts Urge Businesses to 'Get Real' About Obes...(modest weight loss -- just five to ten p...),Health

"In the absence of supportive programs, many overweight, obese or sedentary employees may fall prey to unrealistic or unhealthy approaches to weight loss that are unproven and have no scientific basis," said Reality Coalition co-chair MRC Greenwood, PhD. "This is a double loss to our economy -- employees waste money on 'hype' and employers have even less healthy employees. Cooperative, health and realistic programs are our best hope -- they can make a difference and should be everyone's business."

About Overweight and Obesity

Currently, approximately 65 percent of U.S. adults are overweight or obese, according to the National Institutes of Health. Research suggests that overweight individuals appear to be on the pathway to obesity(3,4). Overweight and obesity are associated with an increased risk of developing health problems such as hypertension, type 2 diabetes and heart disease(5). Factors that can contribute to overweight include an abundance of high-calorie foods, low levels of physical activity, behavior, environment, and genetics(6). Multiple studies have shown that a modest reduction in weight improves health outcomes significantly in overweight or obese patients(7,8).

About the Reality Coalition

The Reality Coalition is a group of esteemed experts on obesity, nutrition, diabetes and healthcare policy who share the common goal of advancing an agenda for realistic approaches to weight loss to achieve improved public health.

The Reality Initiative was launched in 2006 and is supported by an educational grant from GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare. The Coalition developed a white paper entitled Help Not Hype: Getting Real About Weight Loss (published in Obesity Management, February 2007), which
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