American Diabetes Association Partners with North American Association for the Study of Obesity for the 2003 NAASO Annual Meeting

(Alexandria, VA) - December 2, 2002 - The American Diabetes Association (ADA) today announced a relationship with the North American Association for the Study of Obesity (NAASO) that will expand each group's efforts to combat the growing problem of obesity. The two associations agreed that they will work together on planning and coordinating NAASO's Annual Scientific Meeting to be held October 11-15, 2003 in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. NAASO and ADA recognize obesity as a significant threat to public health and are cooperating to provide further opportunities for sharing obesity and diabetes-related information, increase obesity and diabetes awareness and facilitate more research and better clinical care in their joint effort to fight these conditions.

According to new data from the 1999-2000 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, published October 8, 2002 in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), obesity continued to increase dramatically during the late 1990's for Americans of all ages, with nearly one-third of all adults-almost 59 million people-now classified as obese. This data confirms nearly a two-fold increase in the number of obese Americans in the last two decades, and emphasizes the need for more aggressive approaches to obesity treatment and prevention. Obesity can significantly increase a person's risk for a number of serious conditions, including type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure and some types of cancer.

"It is no coincidence that the prevalence of type 2 diabetes and obesity continue to increase at similar rates," said Francine Kaufman, MD, President of the American Diabetes Association. "Diabetes and obesity are intimately linked, and it makes perfect sense for the American Diabetes Association and NAASO to work together to improve the quality of research, education and care associated with both conditions."

Recent research has provided greater understanding of obesity as a chronic disorder caused by a complex interaction of genetic, metabolic, behavioral, psychological and environmental (social and cultural) factors. Despite these advances in research, however, children, adolescents and adults in the U.S. continue to become overweight and obese in record numbers.

"This is a unique example of how two separate medical societies can work together to address this important health issue. Given the major public health implications of obesity and related conditions, such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease, funding for obesity research is appallingly low," said Samuel Klein, MD, NAASO President. "NAASO's Annual Scientific Meeting is well known for its excellence in obesity, and we believe our conference will be even better by associating with the American Diabetes Association. Hopefully, this will lead to more obesity research, improved care and more effective strategies for obesity prevention."

The American Diabetes Association is the nation's leading voluntary health organization supporting diabetes research, information, and advocacy. Founded in 1940, the Association has offices in every region of the country, providing services to hundreds of communities. For more information about the Association and diabetes, please visit www.diabetes.org or call 1-800-DIABETES (1-800-342-2383).

The North American Society for the Study of Obesity (NAASO) is a leading scientific society dedicated to the study of obesity. NAASO is committed to encouraging research on the causes, treatment and prevention of obesity as well as to keeping the scientific community and public informed of new advances in the field. For more information about NAASO and obesity, visit www.naaso.org or call (301) 563-6526.

Related Documents

• Press Release from NAASO (DOC, 917 KB)