The Obesity Epidemic reviewed

Reviews “The Obesity Epidemic: Science, Morality and Ideology” by Michael Gard and Jan Wright, finding that it challenges currently established thinking on obesity which finds expression in cliche phrases like “couch potato” and “ticking time-bomb”. Shows how, according to this book, the common assumptions made about the decline of modern society into obesity are actually importing moralistic judgments into a scientific question, that the energy in – energy out balance does not appear to apply to real life, that there is actual evidence of a positive association between TV viewing and physical activity levels, and that there is no clear relationship between school exercise and physical activity in later life. © 2005, Emerald Group Publishing Limited