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 New Haven, Connecticut at Yale University, the Rudd Center was co-founded in March 2005 by benefactor Leslie Rudd and Kelly D. Brownell, Ph.D. 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."[1]
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 bold goals through: strategic science, interaction with key players in media, industry and government; and mobilization of grassroots efforts. The Center stands at the intersection of science and public policy to develop innovative and effective measures to combat obesity and improve global health.
These objectives are accomplished by addressing the following:
The Center's ambitious plans to change the world's diet are executed by an energetic and talented core staff of researchers and business professionals. Heading the Rudd Center is Director Kelly D. Brownell, Ph.D., who is also professor of psychology at Yale. "The Center's work will by necessity involve both domestic and global initiatives," said Brownell at the launch of the Rudd Center in 2005. "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."
In a copyrighted and trademarked online news story article in the Yale Daily Bulletin (News, Events And Conversations for the Yale Community) by the Rudd Center dated Wednesday, August 10, 2011 and accessed Sunday, August 21, 2011, it states: "Nutrition-related health claims on children's cereals are often misinterpreted by parents, causing them to infer that products with health claims are more nutritious overall despite actual nutrient quality, finds a study from the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University. The study, published in the journal Public Health Nutrition, shows that additional government regulation of front-of-package labeling is needed to protect consumers. Through an online survey, researchers asked parents with children between the ages of 2 and 11 to view images of actual box fronts of children's cereals. While the cereals were of below-average nutritional quality, the boxes featured various nutrition-related health claims including 'whole grain', 'fiber', 'calcium and vitamin D', 'organic' and 'supports your child's immunity'. Participants were provided with possible meanings for these claims and indicated how the claims would affect their willingness to buy the product. Parents inferred that cereals containing claims were more nutritious overall and might provide specific health-related benefits for their children, which predicted a greater willingness to buy the cereals." For the remainder of the commentary on the study, please follow the following hyperlink: <<http://dailybulletin.yale.edu/article.aspx?id=8782>>.