Fighting obesity

doi:10.1136/bmj.328.7452.1327

BMJ 2004;328:1327-1328 (5 June), doi:10.1136/bmj.328.7452.1327

Editorial

Fighting obesity

Evidence of effectiveness will be needed to sustain policies

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Obesity is no longer just an American problem. The UK Houseof Commons Health Committee issued its report on obesity on27 May 2004 predicting that obesity would soon overtake smokingas the leading health problem in the United Kingdom.¹ ThroughoutEurope, obesity has increased 10-50% within the past decadeand by as much as 75% in parts of the developing world.² Worldwideover a billion adults and children are overweight,³ and someexperts have predicted that the current generation of childrenare likely to have shorter life expectancies than their parentsbecause of obesity.¹

Experts agree that the causes of the obesity epidemic are environmental,related to living in surroundings that allow easy access tofood and little need for exercise. To date most approaches toobesity have focused on changing the behaviour of individuals—ondiet and exercise—and cumulatively these have had littleor no impact on the increasing . . . [Full text of this article]

Anjali Jain, deputy physician editor

BMJ Knowledge, BMA House, Tavistock Square, London WC1H 9JR

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