Better clinical care for obesity and diet-related diseases requires a focus on social determinants of health

Obesity and diet-related diseases are among the most pressing public health challenges of our time. In the last 30 years, the prevalence of obesity has doubled among American adults and tripled among American children. Currently, obesity affects 4 of every 10 adults and 1 of every 5 children in the United States. Although obesity rates appear to be leveling off in the general population and even declining among very young children (2 to 5 years of age), they continue to increase in low-income and minority populations, which are disproportionally impacted. According to the most recent estimates, the prevalence of obesity is 47% among Black and Latino adults, compared with 38% among White adults. Similarly, the prevalence of obesity is 22% among Black children and 26% among Latino children, compared with 14% among White children.

The complications of obesity and diet-related diseases challenge the traditional model of health care delivery, in which care primarily rests with physicians, nurses, and other health professionals. These conditions instead require health systems to restructure care delivery to consider underlying drivers, which have traditionally fallen to professionals outside of the health care delivery system. Key among these underlying drivers are the social determinants of health.