Commentary: The importance of addressing the rise of overweight and obesity—progress or lack of action during the last fifty years?

Abstract

In 1952 Lester Breslow called for action on the new health problem of overweight in the US population. Citing evidence that America's health, based on mortality of white adult males, lagged behind other Western countries, he concluded that the excess premature mortality in US men was closely linked with overweight and that reduction in overweight was accompanied by reduction in mortality.