Obesity and Health Research Briefs

2012

Flattening the Trajectory of Health Care Spending: Promote Population Health — 2012

Reversing the rising tide of obesity and further reducing rates of tobacco use could produce substantial long-term dividends in terms of lives saved and disabling illnesses prevented. Communities, employers, and parents all have important roles.

2011

Preventing Obesity and Its Consequences: Highlights of RAND Health Research — 2011

Summarizes key RAND studies on the causes of obesity, its economic and health consequences, and potential strategies for prevention, including work on health care costs, junk food, food deserts, school meals, and proximity of parks.

2009

South Los Angeles Ban on Fast-Food Chains Misses the Mark — 2009

Summarizes the evidence for the ban on new fast-food chain restaurants in South Los Angeles (LA), including the density of such restaurants in the area and the eating habits of South LA residents, and concludes that the data do not support the ban.

2008

Do Neighborhood Economic Conditions Influence the Consumption of Fruits and Vegetables? — 2008

This fact sheet summarizes a study examining the variation of the intake of fruits and vegetables for blacks, whites, and Mexican Americans, in addition to the relationship between neighborhood socioeconomic status and this intake.

Modeling the Health and Medical Care Spending of the Future Elderly — 2008

This research brief summarizes studies showing that medical innovations will improve health and extend life but will likely increase Medicare spending; eliminating obesity and better prevention could save Medicare money and improve health.

Pathways to Obesity: Are People "Hardwired" to Overeat? — 2008

This fact sheet summarizes research on mechanisms that affect overeating but that operate below the level of individual awareness and beyond individual control.

Why People Overeat: Rethinking the Causes of Obesity — 2008

This research brief summarizes a study suggesting that though lack of will power is blamed for failure to maintain a diet, the more likely culprit is automatic responses to cues to eat and the availability of cheap, convenient, high-calorie foods.

2007

How Neighborhoods Can Reduce the Risk of Obesity — 2007

This research brief explores the relationship of a neighborhood's characteristics to obesity in its residents.

Obesity and Disability: The Shape of Things to Come — 2007

This research brief summarizes studies that found that individuals who are obese face greater challenges in terms of disability and chronic disease than do their non-obese counterparts.

2005

Future Health and Medical Care Spending of the Elderly: Implications for Medicare — 2005

A team of economists and physicians explored how changes in medical technology, disease, and disability would affect health care spending for the population age 65 and older.

Obese Women Receiving Breast Cancer Chemotherapy Are Often Undertreated — 2005

By examining the medical files of 9,672 women treated between 1990 and 2001, a newly released study by RAND researchers sought to confirm whether obese women are in fact systematically undertreated for breast cancer.

Some Prescription Diet Drugs Promote Weight Loss — 2005

To assess the effectiveness and safety of prescription weight-loss medications, researchers at the Southern California Evidence-Based Practice Center analyzed 78 published studies of the most popular diet drugs.

Weight Loss Surgery is More Effective Than Diet and Exercise in Helping Severely Obese People Lose Weight — 2005

With a reported rise in the number of procedures -- and complications -- researchers at the Southern California Evidence-Based Practice Center examined the effectiveness and risks of weight loss surgery by analyzing nearly 150 published studies.

2002

The Health Risks of Obesity: Worse Than Smoking, Drinking or Poverty — 2002

Obesity is the most serious problem. It is linked to a big increase in chronic health conditions and significantly higher health expenditures. And it affects more people than smoking, heavy drinking, or poverty.