All primary care trusts must ensure that systems are in place to allow health professionals to implement interventions to prevent and treat obesity, the first national guidance from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) on obesity in adults and children in England and Wales says.

The guidance was developed by the National Collaborating Centre for Primary Care, a group of healthcare professions based at the Royal College of General Practitioners, and NICE's Centre for Public Health Excellence. It aims to stem the rising prevalence of obesity and associated diseases, to increase the effectiveness of interventions to prevent overweight and obesity, and to improve the care provided to adults and children with obesity, particularly in primary care.

James McEwan, emeritus professor of public health at the University of Glasgow and chairman of the guidance development group, said: “In the past, there …