With the United States experiencing an obesity epidemic in adults and children, more government agencies, nonprofits, educational institutions and corporations are sponsoring research in an effort to resolve the crisis. Clinical trials are examining the prevalence and risk factors of obesity, as well as the methods that prevent and effectively treat it. Several clearinghouse resources offer information on current research being conducted in the United States and around the world.
Government Agencies
The National Institutes of Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Department of Agriculture are among the major federal sponsors of obesity research. The NIH, for example, in its strategic plan for obesity research, has set priorities in research areas it will both conduct and fund. These include prevention and treatment through lifestyle modification, medication, surgical and other approaches; "breaking the link between obesity" and associated health condition; examining health-care disparities; using new technologies; creating new awareness campaigns; and training, diversifying and supporting new researchers in the field. The CDC is a major supporter of large-scale surveys -- such as the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and others -- that monitor trends in obesity and health indicators. Under the USDA, research examines food products, drugs and supplements to determine their safety and regulate the claims they make. The agency also measures the effectiveness of food programs it sponsors.
Nonprofits
Not-for-profit institutions, along with private foundations, are supporters of obesity research. Among the most well-known contributors are the National Collaborative on Childhood Obesity Research, The Obesity Society, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the National Association for Sports and Physical Education. NCCOR, for example, was created to coordinate the research efforts of both public and private research, including that of the RWJF, to prevent duplication of efforts and improve efficiency in childhood obesity research. The Obesity Society sponsors individual research investigators.
Colleges and Universities
As centers of knowledge, hundreds of colleges and universities in the United States conduct and support research on obesity. Among the most popular research programs are pilot and feasibility studies, which encourage new and innovative kinds of research. A sampling of colleges with ongoing P&F programs including Boston, Temple, Drexel, Harvard and Vanderbilt universities; the Universities of Alabama, North Carolina, Pittsburgh, Kentucky, Tennessee, Michigan, Massachusetts, Maryland and Minnesota; and many university-affiliated hospital and health-care systems. In addition, research is sponsored by schools that examine topics bearing on obesity, such as diabetes, hypertension, heart disease cancer and even dementia.
Journals
Funded research is almost always published. In addition to reports to their funders, researchers seek to raise awareness of their work in the thousands of scholarly journals that are open to topics related to obesity. Look to the journals "Obesity," "International Journal of Obesity," "Childhood Obesity," "American Journal of Clinical Nutrition," "American Heart Journal," "Journal of the American Medical Association" and the "New England Journal of Medicine." The National Library of Medicine operates PubMed.gov, a free online library that collects the abstracts, and sometimes full texts, of articles published in many journals. In addition, more journals are adopting open-access policies to allow the public to read articles without a paid subscription.
Clinical Trials and Grants Websites
ClinicalTrials.gov is a registry of ongoing research supported by the federal government and private industry in the United States and 174 other countries. In late 2010, more than 100,000 clinical trials were listed on the service. Many of them are related to obesity research and contain links to individual clinical trial websites, where you can read descriptions, learn what populations and methods are being studied and discover how to join a trial if you are eligible. In addition, Grants.gov lists funding announcements where you can learn of future research and apply for your own funding.
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