NCI Experts Contribute to HBO's "The Weight of the Nation" Documentary ► NCI Cancer Bulletin for May 1, 2012 - National Cancer Institute

NCI Cancer Bulletin for May 1, 2012 - National Cancer Institute

NCI Experts Contribute to HBO's "The Weight of the Nation" Documentary

More than two-thirds of U.S. adults and one-third of U.S. children are overweight or obese. And obesity contributes to 5 of the 10 leading causes of death in America, including cancer. Later this month, HBO and the Institute of Medicine, in association with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, NIH, the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, and Kaiser Permanente will launch a campaign centered around a four-part documentary series titled “The Weight of the Nation” that will examine the consequences of obesity for health and for the nation, the science and myths surrounding weight loss and dieting, children and obesity, and the driving forces behind the obesity epidemic.
“If we don’t succeed in turning this epidemic around, we are going to face, for the first time in our history, a situation where our children are going to live shorter lives than we do,” said NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins. “If you were told that your child is at risk for cancer, [or] for some sort of brain disease, that would get your attention. Well, obesity should be on that list.”
Because of the expanding research evidence on the important role of obesity, physical activity, and diet on cancer risk and prognosis, NCI and several other NIH institutes provided information on research that helped guide the development of the documentary.
In addition to the documentary, the campaign will include a three-part film series for families, a website and social media campaign, and nationwide outreach to as many as 40,000 community organizations. All films will be broadcast on all HBO channels and available on HBO.com, with free access to HBO provided by some cable carriers.