Introduction

According to the World Health Organization, we are in the grip of “globesity” that is “taking over” the world (WHO, 2008). The language used here is both interesting and typical of the language used in many official (and unofficial) documents discussing obesity. Obesity is often presented as a crisis for the economy and well-being of states, as well as a very serious health risk to the individual. It would be difficult to miss the note of panic that invariably creeps in. WHO claims that obesity will overwhelm both developed and underdeveloped countries and that unless immediate action is taken “millions will suffer”. Participants at the world obesity conference in New Orleans in 2007 warned that “the global epidemic of obesity is completely out of control”, adding that “health care services … will not be able to cope” (Lichtarowicz, 2007). Reporting on the conference, CBS News called obesity an “international scourge”, a “pandemic that threatens to overwhelm every countries [sic] health system”, while Professor Paul Zimmet told delegates at the opening of the 2006 international congress on obesity in Australia that obesity was “an insidious creeping pandemic” which was “engulfing the entire world”. The UK Department of Health takes the matter seriously enough to refer to obesity as an “epidemic” and “the most significant public and personal health challenge facing our society” (DH, 2008). The recently announced UK strategy on obesity will cost ￡372 million, with a further ￡75 million aimed at childhood obesity (DH, 2008), and the Secretary of State for Health sees the issue as very straightforward: “the problem is simple – we eat too much and we do too little exercise”.