2008-07-01T10:24:12Z Copyright (c) 2007-2008, The RAND Corporation Bricolage RAND Corporation urn:uuid:B7428056-347C-11DC-AB71-64E9D44B69C5 urn:uuid:9E9E5432-31AE-11DD-84FB-AF0039788F35 2008-06-03T00:00:00Z 2008-06-03T00:00:00Z

In the past thirty years obesity has become a global epidemic, largely due to an environment of increasingly accessible high-calorie food, which triggers ten pathways in the brain that lead to overeating without our awareness.

urn:uuid:DCB9A2E0-AD91-11DC-97B0-E1BD38788F35 2007-12-18T00:00:00Z 2007-12-18T00:00:00Z

Conventional wisdom maintains that preventing obesity should be as simple as providing the right nutritional information and motivation. But a more effective approach is to decrease the accessibility, visibility and quantities of food to which people are exposed and reduce the environmental cues that promote eating.

urn:uuid:844EBD22-19D8-11DC-B880-B0678ED6F3CC 2007-06-14T00:00:00Z 2007-06-14T00:00:00Z

As the obesity epidemic worsens, researchers are zeroing in on environmental factors that may contribute to the problem or, conversely, help to prevent it. It is increasingly clear that neighborhoods play an important role in stimulating exercise and reducing the risk of obesity.

urn:uuid:D59F5C36-EDDC-11DB-AA69-BA39CE511B72 2007-04-19T00:00:00Z 2007-04-19T00:00:00Z

School playgrounds and athletic facilities can be important tools in the fight against childhood obesity, but many are locked and inaccessible to children on weekends – especially in poor and minority neighborhoods.