Prevention Strategies & Guidelines
To reverse the obesity epidemic, places and practices need to support healthy eating and active living in many settings. Below are recommended strategies to prevent obesity.
Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity Prevention Strategies
The CDC Guide to Strategies to Increase Physical Activity in the Community [PDF-1.2MB] provides guidance for program managers, policy makers, and others on how to select strategies to increase physical activity.
Physical Activity: Built Environment Approaches Combining Transportation System Interventions with Land Use and Environmental Design
The Community Preventive Services Task Force recommends built environment strategies that combine one or more interventions to improve pedestrian or bicycle transportation systems with one or more land use and environmental design interventions to increase physical activity.
The CDC Guide to Strategies to Increase the Consumption of Fruits and Vegetables [PDF-2.1MB] provides guidance for program managers, policy makers, and others on how to select strategies to increase the consumption of fruits and vegetables.
The CDC Guide to Breastfeeding Interventions provides state and local community members information to choose the breastfeeding intervention strategy that best meets their needs.
Recommended Community Strategies and Measurements to Prevent Obesity in the United States [PDF-376KB] contains 24 recommended obesity prevention strategies focusing on environmental and policy level change initiatives that can be implemented by local governments and school districts to promote healthy eating and active living.
- Implementation and Measurement Guide [PDF-2.6MB] can help communities implement the recommended obesity prevention strategies and report on the associated measurements.
- Healthy Communities: What Local Governments Can Do to Reduce and Prevent Obesity [PPT-8.5MB] is a presentation developed for use by local government staff that makes the case for investing in CDC’s Recommended Community Strategies and Measurements to Prevent Obesity in the United States [PDF – 375KB] . Also available in a PDF version [PDF-3.8MB].
Early Care and Education Strategies
CDC’s framework for obesity prevention, in the ECE setting is known as the Spectrum of Opportunities [PDF-666KB]. The Spectrum identifies ways that states, and to some extent communities, can support child care and early education facilities to achieve recommended standards and best practices for obesity prevention. The Spectrum aligns with comprehensive national ECE standards for obesity prevention address nutrition, infant feeding, physical activity and screen time, Caring for Our Children: National Health and Safety Performance Standards (CFOC), 3rd ed.
School Health Guidelines
School Health Guidelines to Promote Healthy Eating and Physical Activity provides nine guidelines that serve as the foundation for developing, implementing, and evaluating school-based healthy eating and physical activity policies and practices for students in grades K-12.
The following resources are designed to assist schools and program coordinators to inform stakeholders and school health services staff on obesity facts, engaging students and managing chronic health conditions.
Community Guide
The Community Guide – Obesity Prevention and Control is a free resource to help you choose programs and policies to prevent and control obesity in your community.
Clinical Guidelines
Expert Panel on Integrated Guidelines for Cardiovascular Health and Risk Reduction in Children and Adolescents [PDF-3.26MB] This resource summarizes the integrated guidelines develop by the Federal Government to address cardiovascular disease in children and adolescents.
Screening for Obesity in Pediatric Primary Care: Recommendations from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force Guidance for primary care providers in screening for obesity and offering or referring to comprehensive, intensive behavioral weight management interventions.
The American Academy of Pediatrics Clinical Practice Guideline for the Evaluation and Treatment of Children and Adolescents With Obesity aims to inform pediatricians and other pediatric health care providers about the standard of care for evaluating and treating children with overweight and obesity and related comorbidities. The CPG promotes an approach that considers the child’s health status, family system, community context, and resources for treatment to create the best evidence-based treatment plan.
2013 Guideline on the Assessment of Cardiovascular RiskThis is a Report of the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association Task Force on Practice Guidelines for reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease.
