MedicalResearch.com with: Lee Kaplan, MD, PhD, Director of the Obesity, Metabolism and Nutrition Institute Massachusetts General Hospital Weight Center and ACTION study steering committee member MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Today, nearly 100 million people in the U.S. have obesity. Despite the fact that many healthcare providers and others recognize obesity as a disease that can have a significant impact on health, many people with obesity do not have access to effective care for this disorder. As a result, obesity remains substantially under-diagnosed, under-addressed and under-treated. Since multiple parties could have a role in overcoming this barrier to effective obesity care, we sought to determine and compare the perspectives and experience of three important groups – health care providers, employers, and people with obesity themselves – about obesity and its care. As the first national study looking simultaneously at these complementary perspectives, ACTION sought to help answer several important questions:

• Given that obesity is occurring at epidemic rates, why is it not being treated? What are the barriers to effective care?
• How could public and professional attitudes contribute?
• To what degree do limitations of resources or knowledge about the disease contribute?

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