GAO: Coordinated Federal Effort On Diets Could Save Lives, Money – Forbes

If the 21 federal agencies that make effort to improve the diets of Americans to coordinated their … [+] efforts, lives and money could be saved, GAO said

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A coordinated federal effort on diets could save lives and money, the Government Accountability Office asserted in a report today.

“The federal government leads 200 different efforts, spread across 21 agencies, to improve Americans’ diets. But agency efforts are fragmented and there are gaps in key scientific research, including for children…. A strategy for working together could help,” GAO said in a study for Congress.

GAO called on Congress to identify and direct a federal entity to lead development and implementation of a federal strategy for diet-related efforts aimed at reducing Americans’ risk of chronic health conditions.

“A federal strategy for diet-related efforts could provide sustained leadership and result in improved, cost-effective outcomes for reducing Americans’ risk of diet related chronic health conditions, the study said.

Further explaining the need, the agency pointed out chronic health conditions (like heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and obesity) are costly and deadly—caused over half of U.S. deaths in 2018 which in some cases could have been saved with improved diet.

But the conditions are largely preventable with a healthy diet and other behaviors like exercise, GAO contended.

GAO warned a 46 percent rise in severe obesity in …….

Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/tedknutson/2021/09/16/gao-coordinated-federal-effort-on-diets-could-save-lives-money/