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Title: Public health procedures, alone, will not prevent child obesity

Author
item BARANOWSKI, TOM - Children'S Nutrition Research Center (CNRC)
item MOTIL, KATHLEEN - Children'S Nutrition Research Center (CNRC)
item MORENO, JENNETTE - Children'S Nutrition Research Center (CNRC)

Submitted to: Childhood Obesity
Publication Type: Other
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/1/2019
Publication Date: 8/9/2019
Citation: Baranowski, T., Motil, K.J., Moreno, J.P. 2019. Public health procedures, alone, will not prevent child obesity. Childhood Obesity. 15(6):359-362. https://doi.org/10.1089/chi.2019.0128.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1089/chi.2019.0128

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: The authors wrote a review of child obesity prevention interventions proposing that to be effective such interventions must move away from a simple energy balance biological model underlying the intervention. Instead, they should incorporate more recent biological research on the causes of obesity, e.g. infectobesity, microbiome and circadian rhythms. Beets and colleagues wrote a commentary on our articles that dismissed behavioral approaches, indicating more public health concepts and methods are needed for effective obesity prevention. This article provides a point by point rebuttal to Beets' arguments, and concluded public health approaches are important, but need to be informed by biological and behavioral knowledge.