Treatment and prevention of obesity—are there critical periods for intervention?

Abstract

Both professionals and the public view obesity, increasingly apparent in childhood, and already highly prevalent in adults in the Western world, as one of, if not, the most important public health problem of our times. The considerable effort expended on researching risk factors for obesity (a Medline search for studies examining risk factors for obesity conducted at the time of writing this editorial (November 2005) resulted in 264 326 hits) contrasts starkly with the simplicity of the key underlying problem, that obesity is largely a consequence of over-nutrition and under-activity. Despite the clarity of this message, there is little evidence-based guidance on successful, viable long-term strategies to prevent or treat obesity. We believe there is a need to develop findings from epidemiological research into coherent decisions regarding prevention and treatment interventions and ultimately appropriate polices for the improvement of public health. Our intention was that a themed issue on obesity in the International Journal of Epidemiology would contribute towards this aim.