Will UI initiative find paths to fitness?

By The Gazette Editorial Board

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The solution to our nation's weight problem is simple, right? Americans just need to eat less and move around more.

Yet nearly three decades into this country's fight against obesity, we've failed to get a handle on the problem of our collective weight gain. Obesity and its related chronic health conditions, such as Type 2 diabetes and heart disease, continue to increase.

According to to the annual “F as in Fat” report released earlier this month by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Trust for America's Health, at least one adult in five is obese in every state except Colorado, which isn't far behind. In Iowa, 28 percent of residents are obese.

There is compelling evidence about the negative personal effects and steep societal costs of all these extra pounds.

Just 20 years ago, no state had an adult obesity rate above 15 percent. Clearly, efforts to date to tackle this public health crisis just aren't working.

The problem is, we don't yet know what will.

A University of Iowa initiative could help crack the code. Last week, the university announced it would hire 20 new faculty to work with current faculty at seven different UI colleges to study different aspects of our country's obesity epidemic.

It's the latest expansion of the UI's five-year cluster hire initiative aimed at addressing contemporary issues through interdisciplinary research.

The goal of the initiative is to help the university distinguish itself by filling existing faculty openings with specialists whose skills will compliment their colleagues' in tackling important current scientific or cultural challenges. They are tasked with researching practical solutions to those problems that will yield economic and social benefits for Iowans and the world.

Earlier cluster hires have focused on issues of water sustainability, digital public humanities and aging of the mind and brain.

The obesity initiative will focus on biomedical research, and on strategies for addressing community, behavioral and economic factors that contribute to the problem.

The multidisciplinary initiative will involve faculty in medical, engineering, business and liberal arts disciplines, as well as experts at other regents universities - such as Iowa State's Nutrition and Wellness Research Center and the Youth Fitness and Obesity Institute at the University of Northern Iowa.

Researchers also will collaborate with the State Department of Public Health and the Iowa business community to implement obesity prevention efforts here at home.

We're glad to see the UI spearheading a broad-based approach to address a persistent and critical public issue. Most important, we hope it produces results that can help reverse a dangerous trend.

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