These guidelines make recommendations regarding the management of individuals with a body mass index greater than 25.0 kg/m2 and cover all age groups, from children to the elderly, as well as various patient subsets. A range of measures to yield health benefits are set out, including healthy eating plans, increased physical activity, and behavioral modifications to help patients to manage obesity. In addition, recommendations are made on the use of bariatric surgery and the new antiobesity drugs. Throughout the process of developing the recommendations, every attempt was made to ensure use of a rigorous, evidence-based approach. The guidelines are promoted by the Italian Society of Obesity (SIO) and were formulated in compliance with a prespecified process overseen by a steering committee. They are intended for use by a wide range of clinicians, including general practitioners, primary health care nurses, and primary health care professionals, and will hopefully prove of value in combating the obesity epidemic not only in Italy but across Europe and elsewhere in the world.

While unhealthy diet and sedentary behaviors are second only to smoking as the leading preventable cause of death in the U.S., less than 45 percent of adult and pediatric obese patients received any prior advice from a physician to lose weight. The low rate of identification and treatment of obesity by physicians can often be attributed to lack of

Written by and for primary care professionals, this unique title presents step-by-step, evidence-based information for the assessment and treatment of patients who present with overweight or obesity. Highly practical and easy to use, Primary Care: Obesity helps you develop and hone the specific knowledge, skills, and clinical practices necessary to provide effective care to this highly prevalent and at-risk patient population. This comprehensive guide is an essential resource for today’s internal medicine and family medicine physicians, pediatricians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and other healthcare professionals who practice outpatient primary care.

Practical Manual of Clinical Obesity provides practical, accessible and expert advice on the clinical diagnosis and management of obesity and will be your perfect go-to tool in the management of your patients. Information is clear, didactic and attractively presented, with every chapter containing plenty of engaging text features such as key points, pitfall boxes, management flowcharts and case studies to enable a rapid understanding of obesity diagnosis and management. Key clinical trials and major international society guidelines are referred to throughout. Topics covered include: • Assessment of the patient, including patient history, examination and investigations • Patterns, risks and benefits of weight loss • Evaluation of management options: diet, exercise, drugs, psychological treatments, and surgery • Management of obesity related co-morbidities Practical Manual of Clinical Obesity is ideal reading for endocrinologists of all levels, as well as all other health professionals who manage obese patients such as specialist nurses, dieticians, and GP’s with an interest in obesity management.

Of evidence-based recommendations -- Introduction -- Overweight and obesity: background -- Examination of randomized controlled trial evidence -- Treatment guidelines -- Summary of recommendations -- Future research.

This report issues a call for urgent action to combat the growing epidemic of obesity, which now affects developing and industrialized countries alike. Adopting a public health approach, the report responds to both the enormity of health problems associated with obesity and the notorious difficulty of treating this complex, multifactorial disease. With these problems in mind, the report aims to help policy-makers introduce strategies for prevention and management that have the greatest chance of success. The importance of prevention as the most sensible strategy in developing countries, where obesity coexists with undernutrition, is repeatedly emphasized. Recommended lines of action, which reflect the consensus reached by 25 leading authorities, are based on a critical review of current scientific knowledge about the causes of obesity in both individuals and populations. While all causes are considered, major attention is given to behavioural and societal changes that have increased the energy density of diets, overwhelmed sophisticated regulatory systems that control appetite and maintain energy balance, and reduced physical activity. Specific topics discussed range from the importance of fat content in the food supply as a cause of population-wide obesity, through misconceptions about obesity held by both the medical profession and the public, to strategies for dealing with the alarming prevalence of obesity in children. "... the volume is clearly written, and carries a wealth of summary information that is likely to be invaluable for anyone interested in the public health aspects of obesity and fatness, be they students, practitioner or researcher." - Journal of Biosocial Science