Research Recommended to Solve Growing Obesity Rate

Research Recommended to Solve Growing Obesity Rate

NEW ORLEANS--Preliminary recommendations on what research isnecessary to help solve the growing problem of being overweight or obese weremade at the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT; www.ift.org) scientificsummit, The Obesity Conundrum--Is There a Food Solution? held Feb. 15 to17. The recommendations include: predictive biomarkers for identifying obesityrisk; factors on pre-natal, infant and childhood nutrition; technologicaladvancements for measuring personal caloric and nutritive intake and physicalexertion; and real-life studies on peoples motivations behind choosing foodsand when they start and stop eating, according to IFT.

IFT will issue a final report in spring 2004 on the identified research gapsthat, when filled with sound scientific data as recommended, can be expectedto lead to successful methods of managing obesity and reducing the risk ofobesity and its related acute and chronic diseases, according to IFT.