eng Science and Education Publishing World Journal of Nutrition and Health 2015-02-09 3 1 8 15 10.12691/jnh-3-1-2 JNH2015312 article Cheryl Ann Alexander 1 2 Lidong Wang lwang22@students.tntech.edu 3 Department of Nursing, University of Phoenix, USA Department of Engineering Technology, Mississippi Valley State University, USA Obesity has become a matter of quality to health care administrators. Today there are more obese people in the U.S. than ever before. A diet high in fat combined with a sedentary lifestyle has led many Americans to increase their weight to shocking proportions. The Centers for Disease Control report that 34.2% of Americans over 20 are overweight, 33.8% are obese, and 5.7% are extremely obese. Administrators and health care leaders need to care about these numbers as health care dollars spent on treating the complications associated with obesity rise every year and contribute to lost dollars in terms of repeated admissions for complications associated with obesity. The National Guideline Clearinghouse has developed performance indicators for obesity education upon discharge from inpatient settings. By coming up with innovative strategies for combatting obesity, administrators can contribute to the decrease of a world-wide epidemic. http://pubs.sciepub.com/jnh/3/1/2/jnh-3-1-2.pdf obesity dietary surveys metabolic studies nutrition epidemiology nutrition and physical activity nutrition and metabolic syndrome