The Real War on Obesity

"For public health advocates, the sluggish and patchy response to the obvious rising tide of obesity and diabetes is somewhat puzzling and certainly frustrating. John Boswell incisively investigates this stalemate with some insightful research and a set of new perspectives. His diagnosis and remedies may surprise you but, to me, they make very good sense." (Boyd Swinburn, Professor of Population Nutrition and Global Health at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, and Alfred Deakin Professor and Director of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Collaborating Centre for Obesity Prevention at Deakin University, Australia)

This book sheds new light on the political battle to define and construct obesity as a policy issue. This insightful work will interest scholars of interpretive policy studies, critical public health and science and technology studies.This book sheds new light on the political battle to define and construct obesity as a policy issue. Through a rich analysis of the debates in Australia and the UK, it develops a nuanced analysis of the competing narratives that actors rely on to make sense of and argue about this issue, and documents how and to what effect they draw on scientific evidence to support their accounts. The real 'war on obesity', it demonstrates, has always been over the meaning and nature of this public health crisis. This insightful work will interest scholars of interpretive policy studies, critical public health and science and technology studies.