Bridging the Evidence Gap in Obesity Prevention: A Framework to Inform Decision Making

From the Institute of Medicine's Committee on an Evidence Framework for Obesity Prevention Decision Making, this report aims to better align the evidence base for obesity prevention with the evidence needs of policy makers and researchers who are making decisions about it. They overview the current nature of the evidence base; identify challenges faced in integrating scientific evidence into other factors that influence community interventions and policy change; propose a framework for decision making that focuses on assessing policy, environmental, and community interventions that influence food, eating, and physical activity of whole populations; and provide recommendations for using the framework to choose, implement, and evaluate obesity efforts. They also identify new research, evaluate tools and methods and how existing ones can be used more effectively, and outline ways to communicate and refine the framework. Annotation c2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)