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Annual Review of Public Health

Volume 46, 2025

Next Steps in Efforts to Address the Obesity Epidemic

  • Yuilyn A. Chang Chusan1, Ihuoma Eneli2,3, Erin Hennessy1, Nicolaas P. Pronk4 and Christina D. Economos1
  • 1Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, Tufts University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA; email: [email protected] 2Children's Hospital Colorado, Denver, Colorado, USA 3School of Medicine, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, Colorado, USA 4HealthPartners Institute, Bloomington, Minnesota, USA
  • Vol. 46:171-191 (Volume publication date April 2025)
  • First published as a Review in Advance on January 02, 2025
  • Copyright © 2025 by the author(s).
    This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. See credit lines of images or other third-party material in this article for license information.

Abstract

Obesity prevalence continues to rise globally at alarming rates, with adverse health and economic implications. In this state-of-the-art review, we provide an analysis of selected evidence about the current knowledge in the obesity literature, including a synthesis of current challenges in obesity and its determinants. In addition, we review past and current efforts to combat the obesity epidemic, highlighting both successful efforts and areas for further development. Last, we offer insights into the next steps to address the obesity epidemic and advance the field of obesity through both research and practice by () adopting a systems perspective, () fostering cross-sector and community collaborations, () advancing health equity, () narrowing the research-to-practice and research-to-policy gaps with multidisciplinary approaches, and () embracing complementary approaches for concurrent obesity prevention and treatment.

Keyword(s): health equity, implementation, obesity, social determinants, structural determinants, systems
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2025-06-13
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Next Steps in Efforts to Address the Obesity Epidemic
Annual Review of Public Health 46, 171 (2025); https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-publhealth-060922-044108
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