Changing the nation's diet

Efforts to convince Americans to eat better and exercise more are failing, Yale University's Kelly Brownell, PhD, said at APA's 2008 Annual Convention in Boston. The problem? Researchers focus far more on obesity treatment than on policy-level prevention of the unhealthful food industry practices and marketing strategies that make us fat.

"We can't just talk to each other," said Brownell, who directs Yale's Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity. "Our work needs to inform the law."

Areas that are particularly ripe for research include the relationship between junk food marketing and childhood obesity and food's potentially addictive powers. Psychologists can also help beef up the research on:

• How such additives as artificial sweeteners, high-fructose corn syrup and caffeine affect the brain.
• The effect beverage consumption has on eating and health.

"The number of beverage choices people have available has gone up exponentially over the years," he said, with people frequently choosing high-calorie, low-nutrient beverages over foods the body needs. Caffeine's addictive power makes it a particularly worrisome "calorie-maximizing vehicle" because it's so often packaged with drinks already loaded with sugar, he said.

"If it's bringing people back to such a substance again and again, it's a public health problem on the dietary front," Brownell said.

Listen to an interview with Kelly Brownell (Windows Media Player)

Read the transcript