Obesity: policy

The World is facing a global epidemic in obesity. The World Health Organisation Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health states that obesity has reached epidemic proportions globally , with more than 1 billion adults overweight - at least 300 million of them clinically obese.

Within the UK, the second Wanless report Securing Good Health for the Whole Population recognised that obesity has the potential to be of equal importance to smoking as a determinant of future health. The culture and environment of present day Britain has been described as ‘obesogenic’, and it will take major changes in lifestyle and environment to slow or reverse the current trend of increasing levels of obesity and overweight.

Obesity in Scotland is recognised as a problem in Improving Health in Scotland: The Challenge  (718 kB).Although there is no strategy for obesity in Scotland at present, there are strategies for the related lifestyle factors of physical activity (see policy context in our physical activity section) and diet and nutrition (see policy context in our diet and nutrition section).