Funding for Obesity Research

Over the last few decades, significant progress has been made in identifying the underlying causes of obesity and potential behavioral, pharmacologic, natural/alternative and surgical treatments for obesity. However, the prevalence of overweight and obesity cases continues to soar and additional research is needed.

While the federal government allocates spending dollars to research, the increased prevalence of obesity in Americans further highlights the need for funding. Among the federal agencies funding such research initiatives is the NIH, which presents information about research funding opportunities on its Obesity Research website.

Considering the tremendous impact obesity has on U.S. society, public research funding for obesity is surprisingly low. The following chart outlines the federal funding allotted to obesity-related research over the past couple of years.