Supporting healthcare professionals in their war against obesity

Abstract

The European Commission published a Green paper in December 2005 entitled ‘Promoting healthy diets and physical activity: a European dimension for the prevention of overweight, chronic diseases.’ The opening statement which describes the state of play at European level, reads as follows: Unhealthy diets and lack of physical activity are the leading causes of avoidable illness and premature death in Europe, and the rising prevalence of obesity across Europe is a major public health concern. The latter statement perfectly describes the situation in our country; a situation which needs to be seriously addressed and tackled on a number of fronts.