Abstract
Heretofore, corporate voluntary pledges to improve the health of Americans have been
linked neither to explicit measurable commitments nor to a framework for an independent
evaluation. The Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation (HWCF), whose members include
16 of the nation's leading consumer packaged goods food and beverage manufacturers,
voluntarily pledged to collectively remove 1 trillion calories from their products
by 2012 (against a 2007 baseline), and 1.5 trillion calories by 2015. The pledge is
designed to reduce the calorie gap commensurate with the HWCF companies' role in the
U.S. diet. To date, no system exists for documenting the nutritional and public health
impacts of industry-led changes in the food supply on individual diets.
The current study represents a unique opportunity to understand how the consumer packaged
goods food and beverage sector is changing and how these changes are associated with
changes in the American diet. It presents data on national caloric sales from this
sector, purchases of these goods by various subpopulations, and methods linking these
to individual intakes of Americans. Findings show that HWCF companies accounted for
approximately 25% of calories consumed in the U.S. in 2007 and that the 1.5 trillion–calorie
pledge (about 14 calories/day/capita) accounts for 0.8% of the calories sold across
all consumer packaged goods food and beverage brands in 2007. The authors hope that
this evaluation will continue to create models and methods for demonstrating the effects
of changes in the food supply on individual diets, particularly among those from vulnerable
subpopulations.
To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
Purchase one-time access:
Academic & Personal: 24 hour online accessCorporate R&D Professionals: 24 hour online accessOne-time access price info
- For academic or personal research use, select 'Academic and Personal'
- For corporate R&D use, select 'Corporate R&D Professionals'
Subscribe:
Subscribe to American Journal of Preventive MedicineAlready a print subscriber? Claim online access
Already an online subscriber? Sign in
Register: Create an account
Institutional Access: Sign in to ScienceDirect
References
- The global obesity pandemic: shaped by global drivers and local environments.Lancet. 2011; 378: 804-814
- Increased energy intake entirely accounts for increase in body weight in women but not in men in the UK between 1986 and 2000.Br J Nutr. 2011; 105: 1399-1404
- Increased food energy supply is more than sufficient to explain the U.S. epidemic of obesity.Am J Clin Nutr. 2009; 90: 1453-1456
- An analysis of the content of food industry pledges on marketing to children.Public Health Nutr. 2011; 14: 1403-1414
- Commitment to support the WHO's 2004 global strategy on diet, physical activity and health, 2008.
- Alliance for a Healthier Generation—Clinton Foundation and American Heart Association—and industry leaders set healthy school beverage guidelines for U.S. schools.2006
- Strategic collaboration between nonprofits and business.Nonprofit Voluntary Sec Q. 2000; 29: 69-97
- Seven habits of highly effective global public–private health partnerships: practice and potential.Soc Sci Med. 2007; 64: 259-271
- Balancing the benefits and risks of public–private partnerships to address the global double burden of malnutrition.Public Health Nutr. 2011; (FirstView:1–15)
- A public health perspective on healthy lifestyles and public–private partnerships for global childhood obesity prevention.J Am Diet Assoc. 2010; 110: 192-200
- Industry progress to market a healthful diet to American children and adolescents.Am J Prev Med. 2011; 41: 322-333
- Fact sheet.Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation, Washington DC2012
- Food and beverage manufacturers pledging to reduce annual calories by 1.5 trillion by 2015.(Press release, 2010)
- Changing the future of obesity: science, policy, and action.Lancet. 2011; 378: 838-847
- Quantification of the effect of energy imbalance on bodyweight.Lancet. 2011; 378: 826-837
- Reaching the healthy people goals for reducing childhood obesity: closing the energy gap.Am J Prev Med. 2012; 42: 437-444
- Monitoring foods and nutrients sold and consumed in the U.S.: dynamics and challenges.J Acad Nutr Diet (formerly J Am Diet Assoc). 2012; 112 (41.e4–45.e4)
- ScanTrack.
- Understanding differences in self-reported expenditures between household scanner data and diary survey data: a comparison of Homescan and consumer expenditure survey.Rev Agric Econ. 2009; 31: 470-492
- On the accuracy of Nielsen Homescan data.U.S. Department of Agriculture, Washington DC2008
- Recording discrepancies in Nielsen Homescan data: are they present and do they matter?.Quant Marketing Econ. 2010; 8: 207-239
- (21 CFR 101.9)1993 (Washington DC)
- National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey Data 2007–2008.
- USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference.www.ars.usda.gov/ba/bhnrc/ndlDate: 2010
- Food and Nutrient Database for Dietary Studies, 4.1.
- The food industry and self-regulation: standards to promote success and to avoid public health failures.Am J Public Health. 2010; 100: 240-246
- The perils of ignoring history: Big Tobacco played dirty and millions died.Milbank Q. 2009; 87: 259-294
- Preventing childhood obesity: health in the balance: executive summary.JADA. 2005; 105: 131-138
- Front-of-package nutrition labeling—an abuse of trust by the food industry?.N Engl J Med. 2011; 364: 2373-2375
- Response of the food and beverage industry to the obesity threat.JAMA. 2010; 304: 1487-1488
- Can the food industry play a constructive role in the obesity epidemic?.JAMA. 2008; 300: 1808-1811
- A mixed-effects model approach for estimating the distribution of usual intake of nutrients: the NCI method.Stat Med. 2010; 29: 2857-2868
- USDA table of nutrient retention factors, release 6.
- The progressive increase of food waste in America and its environmental impact.PLoS One. 2009; 4: e7940
Article info
Identification
Copyright
© 2013 American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
ScienceDirect
Access this article on ScienceDirectLinked Article
- Building Infrastructure to Document the U.S. Food StreamAmerican Journal of Preventive MedicineVol. 44Issue 2
- PreviewAs obesity has grown in both prevalence and severity in the U.S., there have been increasing calls for both regulatory and voluntary approaches to alter the nation's food supply so it becomes easier for both children and adults to “make the healthy choice.”1 As pointed out in the article by Slining et al.2 in this issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, the 16 companies participating in the Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation (HWCF) have pledged to remove 1.5 trillion calories from the marketplace by 2015.
- Full-Text
- Preview
- CorrectionAmerican Journal of Preventive MedicineVol. 44Issue 4
