ABSTRACT
Obesity is now accepted as a serious public health prob-
lem throughout most of the world and is firmly on the
agenda of policy makers, health professionals, and the
general public across the world. The rates of obesity
throughout both the developed and developing world are
increasing at a dramatic rate. Indeed, the pandemic of
overweight and obesity is now so advanced and so wide-
spread that few regions of the world (with the possible
exception of parts of sub-Saharan Africa) appear to have
escaped its effects. The effective prevention of obesity has
been widely acknowledged as the only feasible solution to
addressing the problem in the long term. However, assess-
ments of past obesity prevention initiatives (1-3) have
come to a common conclusion that their impact has been
very limited. However, they all conceded that given the
considerable health risks associated with obesity, the high
rates of overweight and obesity in most countries, the cost
implications, and the limited long-term success of current
weight reduction methods, priority should be given to the
prevention of obesity and weight maintenance in prefer-
ence to weight loss interventions. Jeffery and French (4)
have also argued that the behavior change required to
prevent small increments in weight with age is likely to be
easier to sustain than the behavior change required to
achieve and maintain large weight losses. This makes
sense not just in terms of the magnitude of effort needed
but also because of the adaptive response in humero-
hypothalamic mechanisms, which operate to maintain
weight gain.