The Epidemic of Obesity: Management and Prevention for Primary Care

 Everybody knows that diet, exercise and other aspects of lifestyle play a significant role in health. But the specifics are less well understood. To what extent does lifestyle cause or contribute to disease and disability? And what exactly is a healthy lifestyle anyway? There is much confusion about what type of diet or exercise is best, not to mention how much sleep, stress or sex is ideal. Nor is it clear how best to motivate people to change their habits. This lack of clarity has inspired a growing movement to inform health care professionals who will then inform their patients about the importance of lifestyle in preventing and treating disease. Its aims are to disseminate scientific research about what it means to live well and to encourage doctors and other providers to incorporate this knowledge into their practices.

Obesity is a crisis affecting every state, every city, every community, and every school across our great nation. Nearly two out of every three Americans are overweight or obese. One out of every eight deaths in America is caused by an illness directly related to overweight and obesity. This situation creates a need for quality continuing medical education aimed at changing provider, and ultimately patient, behavior. This CME program will help provide primary care healthcare professionals with knowledge and skills, to be effective in helping reduce obesity in children, adolescents and adult patients.