Is more government regulation needed to stop the obesity epidemic? The first government recommendation was from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) in 1917, when it published a booklet, How to Select Foods. This booklet divided foods into five groups. In 1956, President Dwight D. Eisenhower created the Presidents Council on Youth Fitness due to “concerns about the physical fitness of American children compared to their European counterparts” (ProQuest Staff). Since the introduction of the How to Select Foods booklet, the Government has adapted the guidelines five times. And he created several regulations, including rules requiring manufacturers to list trans fats in nutrition facts on packages and created the Presidents' Council on Physical Fitness and Sports. Since the creation of the first recommendations and regulations the average weight of Americans has increased. Does government regulation work? The average weight of Americans is increasing because regulations are not enough. The government has been implementing regulations since the early 1900s, but the average weight of Americans continues to increase. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states, “On average, both men and women gained more than ten pounds between the early 1960s and 2002.” In 1900 the average weight of a college-aged woman was 122 pounds and that of an average man was 133 pounds. Currently the National Center for Health states that the average weight of a woman is 162.9 pounds and the average weight of a man is 189.8 pounds. That's a difference of forty pounds for women and fifty-five pounds for men over the last hundred years. As Americans continue to gain weight, other medical issues such as; Type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure...... at the center of the newspaper ......les Times. 27 February 2011: A.13. SIRS problem researcher. Network. November 20, 2011. Source Web.ProQuest Staff. “Obesity Timeline.” Timing of major issues. 2011: np Researcher on SIRS issues. Network. November 20, 2011. Web source. Silverman, Jacob. “Would a fat tax save lives?” August 01, 2007. HowStuffWorks.com. 01 December 2011. Web source. Tennant, Michael. "Michelle Obama's Federal Fat Farm." New American. September 13, 2010: 3-8pm. SIRS problem researcher. Network. November 20, 2011. Web source. http://abcnews.go.com/Health/w_DietAndFitness/junk-food-tax-improve-health/story?id=10056236 Web. December 1, 2011. Web source. They aim to change individual behavior, but do little to change the behavior of companies that produce and market unhealthy products, spending vast fortunes to make them available, desirable and socially acceptable. (Nestle, Marion)