Reports

TEXAS REPORTS

• A Report to the Legislature from the Interagency Obesity Council (PDF, 3.59 mb) Report from the Interagency Obesity Council that describes the work of the Texas Department of Agriculture, the Texas Department of State Health Services, and the Texas Education Agency in providing leadership on obesity prevention to schools, communities, healthcare providers, and the public through a variety of programs and initiatives. Recommends strategies on the community and policy level for better nutrition and more physical activity.
• Gaining Costs, Losing Time: The Obesity Crisis in Texas (PDF, 5.3 mb) A special report from the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts (2011) illustrates how severe the costs of obesity are for employers and provides estimates of both direct (health care) and indirect costs (employee absenteeism, lost productivity, and disability) to Texas employers.
• Obesity in Texas:  Policy Implications (PDF, 414 kb) Health Policy Brief from Texas Health Institute (2006) defines the scope of the Texas obesity problem, assesses workplace and school wellness policies and explores opportunities for policy change, and presents an overview of past Texas obesity prevention and control efforts.
• Texas Obesity Policy Portfolio (PDF, 3.39 mb) This document from the Center for Policy Innovation at the Texas Department of State Health Services (2006) chronicles our best health policy knowledge associated with obesity prevention and control. The Portfolio gives a range of referenced policy options from effective to untested, categorized by type of policy and identified for use in multiple sectors and settings. It serves as a starting point for policy development and implementation, and is one tool that can be used to influence the current trajectory of the obesity problem in Texas.
• The Burden of Overweight and Obesity in Texas, 2000-2040 (PDF, 211 kb) Report conducted by DSHS in partnership with Texas Department of Agriculture that reveals the cost projections through 2040 for obesity-related illnesses and complications.

NATIONAL REPORTS

• Prevention for a Healthier America: Investments in Disease Prevention Yield Significant Savings, Stronger Communities A report released by Trust for America’s Health in July 2008 finds that If Texas were to invest $10 per person per year in proven community-based programs to increase physical activity, improve nutrition, and prevent smoking and tobacco use, our state could save $1 billion annually within five years through reductions in health care spending.  This is a return of $4.70 for every $1.
• Promising Strategies for Creating Healthy Eating and Active Living Environments This report, prepared by Prevention Institute on behalf of the Healthy Eating Active Living Convergence Partnership (2008), helps build momentum for environmental change and policy approaches to improving health. Promising Strategies was created with input from diverse stakeholders and constituencies representing fields such as public health, sustainable food systems, economic development, transportation, planning, climate change, among others–engaged in accelerating and supporting the movement for healthier communities. This document can serve as a menu of options for various audiences to advance or expand environmental change and policy approaches. The strategies highlighted in the document focus on environments such as the community, schools, workplaces, healthcare, government, and media.
• The Federal Trade Commission’s 2008 report, Marketing Food to Children and Adolescents: A Review of Industry Expenditures, Activities, and Self-Regulation (PDF, 3.0 mb) finds that 44 major food and beverage marketers spent $1.6 billion to promote their products to children under 12 and adolescents ages 12 to 17 in the United States in 2006. The report finds that the landscape of food advertising to youth is dominated by integrated advertising campaigns that combine traditional media, such as television, with previously unmeasured forms of marketing, such as packaging, in-store advertising, sweepstakes, and Internet. Analyzing this data, the report calls for all food companies “to adopt and adhere to meaningful, nutrition-based standards for marketing their products to children under 12.”
• F as in Fat:  How Obesity Policies are Failing in America 2011 (PDF, 3.0 mb) is an annual report of the Trust for America’s Health that is intended to set a baseline of current national and state policies and programs.  For reports from prior years, visit http://healthyamericans.org/reports/
• Nutrition Standards for Foods in Schools: Leading the Way toward Healthier Youth Report of the Institute of Medicine (2007) reviews and makes recommendations about appropriate nutritional standards for the availability, sale, content, and consumption of foods at school, with attention to competitive foods.
• School Foods Report Card (PDF, 1 mb) Report from the Center for Science in the Public Interest (2006) which includes a state-by-state evaluation of policies for foods and beverages sold through vending machines, school stores, a la carte and other venues outside of school meals. 
• Balance: A Report on State Action to Promote Nutrition, Increase Physical Activity, and Prevent Obesity (PDF, 548 kb) Report from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (2008) summarizes both the key legislative and non-legislative actions and trends of 2008.
• Food Marketing to Children and Youth:  Threat or Opportunity?Report from the Institute of Medicine (2005) provides the most comprehensive review to date of the scientific evidence on the influence of food marketing on diets and diet-related health of children and youth.
• Active Living Research Briefing (PDF, 0.13 mb) Report of Active Living Research of RWJF (2005) summarizes peer-reviewed research about active living and activity-friendly environments and suggests ways to use the Designing for Active Recreation (PDF, 0.31 mb), Designing for Active Transportation (PDF, 0.26 mb), and Designing to Reduce Childhood Obesity Fact Sheets (PDF, 0.30 mb).
• Overweight and Physical Inactivity among Children: A Portrait of States and the Nation 2005 (PDF, 9082 kb) Report from the US Department of Health and Human Services Health Resources and Services Administration which summarizes the National Survey of Children’s Health.
• Preventing Childhood Obesity:  Health in the Balance Report of the Institute of Medicine (2005).  This was a congressionally mandated study that provides a blueprint to guide concerted actions for many stakeholders—including government, industry, media, communities, schools and families—to collectively respond to the growing obesity epidemic in children and youth.
• Progress in Preventing Childhood Obesity: How Do We Measure Up? Report from the Institute of Medicine (IOM) (2006) builds on the 2005 report, Preventing Childhood Obesity: Health in the Balance and examines the progress made by obesity prevention initiatives in the US over the past two years.
• Nutrition and Physical Activity: A Policy Resource Guide (PDF, 2.26 mb) Developed by the Washington State Department of Health (2005) this document is a comprehensive guide for the prioritization and development of nutrition and physical activity policies at state, local and private jurisdictions.  It can serve as starting point for the development of policies, and it includes examples and evidence of policy effectiveness.

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