ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on the key concepts discussed in the preceding chapters of this book. The book considers the major influences on European food consumption in the twentieth century and invites comparisons across national boundaries. All European countries have been affected by the industrialization of their food industries. The book focuses on the evidence from nine European countries which were at different stages of economic development as the twentieth century began and which have followed different paths towards industrialization and economic maturity. It reports food consumption as recently as the last decade of the twentieth century which is appropriate, as the UK was becoming the most overweight nation in Europe. The book presents a view, from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, which hints at the early medicalization of treatments in France for being overweight or obese. Ultimately, the problem of excess bodyweight and obesity comes down to an energy equation.
