Obesity Awareness Week 21-27 March

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Wed 31st Mar 2004

To recognise Obesity Awareness week, the charity TOAST - The Obesity Awareness and Solutions Trust - held a reception in the House of Commons to highlight the scale and causes of obesity and to stress the need for public policy solutions.

"The government cannot tackle the issues in isolation but needs to engage constructively.."

The level of obesity in the UK has more than trebled over the past twenty years to the extent that one in five adults are now considered obese - 10 million men, women and children in this country are now affected by the health risks associated with being overweight.

Commenting on the awareness week, Annette Brooke MP - wearing a 20lb 'fat bag' to experience extra weight aimed at helping understanding the condition - said:

"The issue of obesity is in the news and headlines almost every day, and affects ever more people, from an ever younger age. In order to address this public health crisis, it is so important to address both prevention and treatment solutions, not simply one or other.

"The government cannot tackle the issues in isolation but needs to engage constructively with key players in both public and private sectors including the food industry, the slimming industry the media, all government departments - education, health, environment, treasury and others - plus the overweight people themselves, and share the responsibilities challenging us."

TOAST recognises that few obese people get support from the NHS, and only a small number of surgeries and hospitals offer specialist obesity clinics.

Treatment available for overweight people includes advice from dieticians, low and very low calorie diets, exercise on prescription, drugs and surgery. Although eating less and doing more are the obvious treatments for overweight and obesity, simply promoting a healthier lifestyle has neither halted the increase nor resulted in a decline.

Obesity is a difficult condition to treat, as well as prevent, but we have never stopped trying for other chronic conditions just because of difficulties and failures. The organisation TOAST campaigns to ensure that overweight and obese people will not be labelled as 'hopeless' but will receive support and treatment appropriate to them.