The ongoing Health Survey for England highlights the trend towards an increase in the prevalence of overweight and obesity. In 2002 the proportion of men and women in the survey who were classified as either overweight or obese was 65.4% and 56.5% respectively.¹ In 1980 just over 8% of women and 6% of men were estimated to be obese (body mass index [BMI] >30 kg/m² ). In comparison, by 2002 the estimated percentage of males who were obese was 22.1% and the estimated percentage of females with a BMI >30 kg/m² was 22.8%.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has described obesity as a global epidemic, affecting developing countries as well as industrialised nations.

The WHO has classified obesity as a chronic disease and cautions that obesity is set to overtake some of the more traditional causes of ill health such as undernutrition and infectious diseases.²

Primary care is at the front line of this modern-day public health care concern and now, more than ever, we need to consider how best to improve our understanding of both the causes and treatment of this grave condition.