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America has a serious weight problem. Two-thirds of adults and nearly one-fifth of children in the United States are overweight, placing them at greater risk for heart disease, diabetes, and other chronic diseases including cancer and arthritis. Furthermore, obesity and its related health problems are placing a major strain on the U.S. health care system. Thus, this manual describes 24 recommended strategies by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to encourage and support healthy eating and active living. In addition, a single measure is provided for each strategy to help communities track their progress over time. The 24 strategies and measures are divided into 6 categories that represent different aspects of the physical and food environments. Three appendices are included: (1) Project Work Groups; (2) Terms Used in This Manual; and (3) Useful Contacts for Data Collection. (Contains 77 resources.)

The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence and present food intake and morbidity patterns of obesity in men (n = 162) and women (n = 286) 15 to 80 years of age. Data were collected in a community-based longitudinal study from 1983 to 1985 in a semi-rural Egyptian village. Degree of obesity was estimated using body mass index (BMI) and a derived measure of adiposity from principal components analysis of several anthropometric variables. BMI was significantly correlated with other available measures of adiposity, lean mass and age and uncorrelated with height. Derived measures of adiposity were related to all other measures of relative weight and adiposity in both sexes and related to age in women. Within agricultural households, men were shorter and had higher adiposity levels, and women were taller than non-agricultural households. The presence of chronic disease was unrelated to BMI in men. However, chronic disease and respiratory difficulties occurred more often in overweight and obese women. There was no difference in the prevalence of acute illness for lean and normal weight compared to overweight and obese men. Skin problems occurred more often in overweight and obese women. There was a risk of low pregnancy weight gain across the range of BMI. Obese women produced heavier infants than normal weight or overweight women; overweight women produce heavier infants than leaner women. Infant birthweight was predicted by prepregnancy BMI or adiposity level, pregnancy weight gain and height. For men, animal products contributed to the higher intakes of fat, vitamin A and zinc in overweight and obese, and fats and oils contributed to higher vitamin E intakes. For women, bread contributed to higher intakes of dietary fiber and lower intakes of calcium in overweight and obese.