AAAS Book on Obesity Wins Award in 2007 National Health Information Awards Program

AAAS has won a bronze award in the patient education information category for the book "Obesity: The Science Inside" in the 14th annual National Health Information Awards. The awards recognize the nation's best consumer health information programs and materials, and are coordinated by the Health Information Resource Center.

"These awards set an industry standard of quality for consumer health materials, and this 'seal of quality' helps health professionals find the best consumer health information sources for their programs," said Janet Bowman, associate director of the Resource Center based in Libertyville, Ill.

AAAS's winning entry is part of a seven-book series organized by the Healthy People Library Project, a AAAS initiative funded by a Science Education Partnership Award from the National Institutes of Health's National Center for Research Resources. The series, which includes "HIV and AIDS", "Asthma and Allergies," and "Having Healthy Babies," explains the research behind a variety of health topics.

Over 1,000 entries competed in the 2007 National Health Information Awards contest.

Given the concern for obesity among Americans—only one-third of whom weigh a healthy amount—and the knowledge that obesity is a manageable condition, the coordinators of the Healthy People Library Project decided to devote a book to exploring the causes and health consequences of the condition as well as tips on prevention and treatment. The book, published in 2006, also discusses current research and offers a guide to participating in research studies.

"We worked really hard to create a book that was positive in tone and that treated the condition as medical rather than as just the result of bad behavior," said Kirstin Fearnley, a program associate at AAAS who wrote the award-winning book. "We wanted people to understand that even making small changes can have huge results." Small weight changes—as few as five pounds—can have a particularly significant effect in terms of lowering high blood pressure, high blood sugar and high cholesterol.

Fearnley credited AAAS Publications Coordinator Ann Williams for graphic design that made a significant contribution to the book's success. Other AAAS contributors to the book were project director and co-principal investigator Maria Sosa and principal investigator Shirley Malcom, who is also the director of Education and Human Resources at AAAS.

Free copies of "Obesity: The Science Within" are available by e-mail or calling 202-326-6777. The 77-page book can also be downloaded as an e-book.

Molly McElroy

18 September 2007