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The battle against obesity—attacking physical inactivity as a primary means of defense

Nature Clinical Practice Endocrinology & Metabolism volume 4, pages 548–549 (2008)Cite this article

Obesity is a comorbidity for some of the most prevalent chronic disease states, such as insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular disease. The majority of patients with insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes mellitus are overweight, and up to 80% of them are obese. The positive relationship of obesity markers with major coronary risk factors is well documented.1 Furthermore, reductions in life expectancy as a result of obesity are staggering. For example, a 25-year-old man with morbid obesity has a 12-year decreased life expectancy when compared to an individual of healthy (rather than average) weight.2

One of the best public-health approaches to combat the obesity epidemic would undoubtedly be to target strategies that prevent this condition in the first place (i.e. primary intervention). Instead, there have been calls for increased medical and surgical interventions to prevent and treat comorbidities (i.e. secondary and tertiary interventions).3 Of note, a rapid increase in the tertiary treatment of obesity-related disorders has been observed, particularly among young people, and the number of adolescent bariatric procedures performed in the US increased fivefold between 1997 and 2003.4 According to the American Society for Bariatric Surgery,5 diet, exercise, behavior modification, and drug interventions have all been ineffective in the treatment of morbid obesity in adults, with no indication that they are likely to be any more useful in the young. In this Viewpoint, however, we assert that primary prevention remains the way forward in our battle against this condition.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. JA Hawley is Head of the Exercise Metabolism Group in the School of Medical Sciences at RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia.,

    John A Hawley

  2. DW Dunstan is the Manager of Physical Activity Research at the International Diabetes Institute, Melbourne, Australia.,

    David W Dunstan

Authors
  1. John A Hawley
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  2. David W Dunstan
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Correspondence to John A Hawley.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Hawley, J., Dunstan, D. The battle against obesity—attacking physical inactivity as a primary means of defense. Nat Rev Endocrinol 4, 548–549 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/ncpendmet0918

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