Creating a Health Promoting Environment: The Role of Food

Abstract

An analysis of international data on overweight and obesity shows Ireland in a very unflattering light. Along with the UK, Finland, Greece and the US, Ireland has some of the highest rates of adult and child obesity among developed countries and trends suggest that the situation is going to get worse. If so, today?s children will probably have higher levels of diabetes and cardiovascular disease and live shorter lives than their parents, bringing to a halt three decades or more of increases in Irish life expectancy.