Stuffed at Thanksgiving: A New Corporate Solution to the Obesity Crisis

WASHINGTON -- As millions of Americans will soon be eating an unhealthy amount of food this holiday season, Hudson Institute Visiting Fellow Hank Cardello — author of Stuffed: An Insider's Look at Who's (Really) Making America Fat — offers a solution to our obesity crisis: Change the food companies.  

"Over the past thirty years, nothing has worked to fix our obesity crisis — regulations have failed to arrest rising obesity rates, and consumers don't stick with diets or exercise," says Cardello. "The only way to fix America's obesity problem is through the source — big food corporations."

Cardello, a former executive at some of the world's largest food and beverage companies — including Coca-Cola, Sunkist, Canada Dry, Anheuser-Busch, and General Mills — directs Hudson's newly launched Obesity Solutions Initiative. Hudson's Obesity Solutions Initiative, the first of its kind, focuses on advancing pragmatic market-based solutions to pressing societal problems related to food. Hudson's effort bridges the gap between the public health community's push to reverse the obesity epidemic and the food industry's aim to grow their bottom lines.

Cardello proposes a whole new approach to solving childhood and adult obesity. He suggests that:

·  Instead of taxing sodas and fatty foods, incentivize corporations to sell products with fewer calories;

·  Instead of banning ads aimed at children, use marketing to promote healthier foods;

·  Instead of attacking their profits, show corporations how they can make more by selling more nutritious products.

"Altruism hasn't worked; it's time to point business in the right direction," says Cardello.

He is available to comment: 919-929-0102 or hcardello@hudson.org.

For More Information: Hank Cardello, 919-929-0102, hcardello@hudson.org; Communications Department, 202-974-6456, communications@hudson.org.

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