Higher food prices might lower rates of obesity

Obesity is a current and growing challenge to public health. Lifestyles that feature high-calorie/low-nutrition foods and little physical activity are causes of overweight and obesity, points out the World Health Organization, which predicts that by 2015, approximately 2.3 billion adults will be overweight and more than 700 million will be obese. A special issue of The Milbank Quarterly is devoted to research that could influence how public policy might impact the rates of obesity.