A worrisome problem of international proportions, obesity's effect on public health has been the subject of increased media attention, as rates of overweight and obesity continue to rise in the United States and worldwide. However, it looks like positive changes are on the horizon at the global level, in schools, on food labels, and even in the food and beverage industry.

The World Health Organization (WHO) began sounding the global obesity (or "globesity") alarm back in the 1990s, and has run public awareness campaigns aimed at "making healthy choices easy choices." Recently, WHO and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) collaborated to attempt to change the way people everywhere eat and exercise. The two groups united to create a global strategy to deal with the rising rates and public health impact of certain chronic diseases - including obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and cancers - that can be caused by or linked to unhealthy diet and lack of physical activity.

WHO also held roundtable discussions with major food companies - including Coca-Cola, Kellogg's, McDonald's, Nestle, and PepsiCo - to start a global discussion about the sale of foods that are high in calories, fat, sugar, and salt, and about how to promote healthier diets and increased physical activity worldwide.

Some statistics about overweight and obesity tell the tale:

*Since 1980, the percentage of overweight kids in the United States has nearly doubled and nearly tripled among adolescents. Today, 10% of 2- to 5-year-olds and more than 15% of children between the ages of 6 and 19 are overweight.

*In 1999, approximately 61% of U.S. adults were either overweight or obese. That number is likely even higher now.

*About 300,000 premature U.S. deaths can be attributed every year to poor nutrition and inadequate physical activity.

*If trends in obesity continue, one in three American children born in 2000 will go on to develop diabetes in their lifetimes. Increasing numbers of diabetes cases diagnosed in childhood are type 2 diabetes - once thought to be exclusively an adult disease associated with obesity.

*The cost of obesity in the United States was more than $117 billion in 2000, including health care costs, lost wages, and future earnings lost due to premature death.

*As of 2000, there were 300 million obese adults in the world.

*Nearly 60% of the 56.5 million reported deaths worldwide in 2001 were linked to chronic diseases related to diet.