Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale
| Formation | 2005 |
|---|---|
| Type | Nonprofit organization |
| Purpose | Our Mission is to promote solutions to childhood obesity, poor diet, and weight bias through research and policy. |
| Location | |
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Director
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Marlene Schwartz |
|
Deputy Director
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Rebecca M. Puhl |
|
Key people
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Kelly Brownell, former director |
| Website | uconnruddcenter |
The Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity is a non-profit research and public policy organization devoted to improving the world’s diet, preventing obesity, and reducing weight stigma. Located in Hartford, Connecticut at The University of Connecticut, the Rudd Center was co-founded in March 2005 at Yale University by benefactor Leslie Rudd and Kelly D. Brownell, Ph.D. The Rudd Center moved from Yale to the University of Connecticut in December 2014. According to the Center website, "The Rudd Center serves as a leader in building broad-based consensus to change diet and activity patterns, while holding industry and government agencies responsible for safeguarding public health. The Center serves as a leading research institution and clearinghouse for resources that add to our understanding of the complex forces affecting how we eat, how we stigmatize overweight and obese people, and how we can change." At the dedication ceremony for the center in 2005, founding director Brownell remarked, "Diets and their determinants in the U.S. are inextricably linked to those in other countries through international trade policies, global media influences, agriculture subsidies, and a number of other social, economic, and political mechanisms." The mission & purpose of the Rudd Center is to reverse the global spread of obesity; to reduce weight bias; and to galvanize community members, public officials, and advocacy groups to achieve positive, lasting change. The Rudd Center pursues these goals through strategic science, interaction with key players in media, industry and government; and mobilization of grassroots efforts. The Center seeks to develop innovative and effective measures to combat obesity and improve global health by addressing various sectors such as economics, food and agriculture policy, food marketing to youth, law, public policy, school and community nutrition, and biases and stigma that occur because of body weight.
An example of an economic policy that The Rudd Center is using to attempt to change the economy is the Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Tax. This tax works by charging a small tax to sugar sweetened beverages, leading to hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue per year to certain cities.
Showing that economics matter is also a way the UConn Rudd Center suggests participants can be worthy of explanation. Taxing unhealthy foods and ingredients is one way they suggest doing this. Prices and costs of healthy food should also be adjusted and made more affordable.
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Wikipedia