ABSTRACT
The topic of obesity has generated an exceptional amount of interest among the scientific community, the media and the public recently. A vast amount has been written on the subject and much has been learned about the causes and consequences of obesity. Despite this accumulation of knowledge, there remain many uncertainties regarding how best to prevent and manage obesity, and there is disagreement within the literature regarding the scale and seriousness of the issue. According to James (2008), for example, ‘The epidemic of obesity took off from about 1980 and in almost all countries has been rising inexorably ever since’ (p. 336). Haslam et al. are more emphatic, stating:
Introduction 119 ❚
Definition 120 ❚
Aetiology 121 ❚
Genetic influence 125 ❚
Prevalence 128 ❚
Health risks 131 ❚
Exercise as therapy 139 ❚
Summary 145 ❚
Study tasks 146 ❚
Further reading 147 ❚
The obesity epidemic in the United Kingdom is out of control, and none of the measures being undertaken show signs of halting the problem, let alone reversing the trend. The United States is about 10 years ahead in terms of its obesity problem, and it has an epidemic of type 2 diabetes with obesity levels that are rocketing.
