As part of National Public Health Week, New York Health Commissioner Richard F. Daines, M.D., visited Cornell April 6 to open a statewide campaign to promote healthy living.

Daines met with faculty members in the Colleges of Agriculture and Life Sciences and of Human Ecology to discuss obesity prevention and treatment, and sought their ideas for "turning sound science into sound policy." With one of four New Yorkers under age 18 obese, Daines and the N.Y. Gov. David Paterson administration have made reversing childhood obesity rates a top priority.

The commissioner toured the Food and Brand Lab directed by Brian Wansink, the John S. Dyson Professor of Marketing in the Department of Applied Economics and Management. Wansink shared strategies for fighting obesity in school cafeterias and through public assistance programs.

At the lab, Daines also learned about Wansink's wide-ranging studies that examine how psychological cues encourage people to overeat. He and others from the state Department of Health participated in a demonstration of a consumer behavior study. Blindfolded, they tasted a mixture of vanilla yogurt and chocolate syrup but mistook it for a strawberry flavor after prompts by a lab assistant. Wansink, best known for his book "Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think," wants to use similar psychological indicators to nudge children and adults away from unhealthy eating habits.

Later, Daines heard from John Cawley, associate professor of policy analysis and management, on the economics of obesity and from nutrition professor Christine Olson on the relationship between obesity and charity food programs. The commissioner also learned about the ACT for Youth Center of Excellence, a College of Human Ecology-supported program that partners with the state health department to tackle the issues of teen pregnancy, HIV infection, sexually transmitted infections, substance abuse and violence.