Next steps in obesity prevention: altering early life systems to support healthy parents, infants, and toddlers

There is an urgent need for effective, sustainable child obesity prevention strategies. Progress toward this goal requires strengthening current approaches to add a component that addresses pregnancy onward. Altering early-life systems that promote intergenerational transmission of obesity holds promise for interrupting the continuing cycle of the obesity epidemic. A 2011 Institute of Medicine (IOM) report emphasizes the need for interventions early in life to prevent obesity. A 2010 IOM report called for addressing gaps in existing obesity research evidence by using a systems perspective, simultaneously addressing interacting obesity promoting factors in multiple sectors and at multiple societal levels. A review of evidence from basic science, prevention, and systems research supports an approach that (1) begins at the earliest stages of development, and (2) uses a systems framework to simultaneously implement health behavior and environmental changes in communities.