What Interventions Are Effective for Preventing or Treating Obesity?
When looking for evidence for effective treatments or interventions, there are several sources that should be kept in mind:
- PubMed -
- CDC (US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - https://www.cdc.gov/
- The Institute of Medicine - http://www.nationalacademies.org/hmd/
PubMed is the best source of original articles, but you have to judge the quality of the articles yourself, and this takes practice and experience. Generally, if you stick with well-know, authoritative journals such as the New England Journal of Medicine, you can rely on the fact that the articles have undergone careful scrutiny by experts in the field.
The other three sources listed above can also be relied upon. The Institute of Medicine and the Cohchrane Collaborative convene panels of experts to review the body of evidence for specific questions and make their detailed summaries available. Reports from the Institute of Medicine can be purchased, or they can be read online for free.
For example, at the Institute of Medicine a search by the keyword "obesity" produces a list of reports and workshops on various aspects of the problem, for example: The Current State of Obesity Solutions in the United States - http://nationalacademies.org/hmd/reports/2014/the-current-state-of-obesity-solutions-in-the-united-states.aspx
The CDC is another excellent sources. A keyword search on "obesity" produced links to many excellent resources such as: