ABSTRACT
Most of what follows, written slightly over a decade ago, was my attempt to characterise the scale of the ‘obesity epidemic’. There are many instructing factors that one might revisit this area, particularly as the health debates and agenda has partly but steadily moved on. My purpose is first, to give some historical background for the rest of the chapters in this volume and, second, to give some flavour and, in some cases, the ‘heat’ of these important debates.
