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A comprehensive, population-based strategy is needed to reduce the alarming prevalence of U.S. obesity said the Population-Based Prevention of Obesity, a new American Heart Association scientific statement published in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

It recommends an approach that would complement individually oriented strategies, including clinic-based prevention and treatment programs to lose weight.

"Almost all of our current eating or activity patterns are those that promote weight gain -- using the least possible amount of energy or maximizing quantity rather than quality in terms of food", said Shiriki Kumanyika, chair of the working group that wrote the statement.

"People haven't just made the decision to eat more and move less; the social structure has played into people's tendencies to go for convenience foods and labor-saving devices."

Preventing weight gain should be easier, socially acceptable and more rewarding for the average person, Kumanyika said.

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