Chief medical officer urges action to tackle obesity A 'sugar tax' may be one possible sanction if the food and drink industry fails to reduce sugar content voluntarily

摘要

Almost two thirds of adults and a third of children are overweight or obese.1 This represents a profound change in the health of the nation over recent decades: in 1980 around 7% of adults were obese,2 whereas today the proportion is around 25%.1 The prevalence of overweight and obesity is discussed so often thatthe statistics have become familiarto many of us, yet the statistics remain profoundly alarming. The causes of overweight and obesity are multifactorial, complex, and not fully understood. Yet the alarming prevalence compels us to use evidence based interventions and act, at individual and population levels, even while research into the underlying causes continues.