Obesity as a Public Health Problem

Abstract

Public health approaches to obesity are distinctly different, but complementary, to clinical management. The history of describing obesity as a public health problem is lengthy, preceding the 1990s high-income country ‘obesity epidemic’. Overweight and obesity now affect half to two-thirds of developed country populations, and rates are still increasing in middle-income countries. Patterns and socioeconomic correlates of obesity differ across countries at different stages of industrial development. In relation to health outcomes, obesity is consistently related to non-communicable disease, especially diabetes. Risk increases across all levels of obesity, but increases exponentially for extreme obesity. Population-wide increases are likely due to a complex system of environmental, societal, economic, and cultural factors, and these need to be addressed in implementing upstream primary prevention solutions. Working outside of the health sector will be required, posing challenge to the implementation of national obesity prevention plans.