Book Reviews |
Obesity Prevention and Public Health
Obesity Prevention and Public Health. Edited by D. Crawford and R. W. Jeffrey. Published by Oxford University Press, 2005. ISBN 0-19-856600-X. Price: £49.50. 330 pp.
This multi-authored text contains contributions largely from Australia and the USA with a single chapter from the Netherlands. Its authors are experts in the fields of public health, health promotion and nutrition and physical activity with clear, logical arguments and a refreshing lack of repetition which sometimes plagues multi-author tomes.
The book is in three parts, each containing between four and five chapters. Part 1 covers the context of the obesity problem. Part 2 reviews interventions across different settings and in different population groups and Part 3 describes potential opportunities for obesity prevention. The arrangement works well and covers all the important issues for a non-medical public health audience.
There is a useful chapter on the costs of obesity, although most of the examples are from the USA so have less relevance to UK and European readers but reviews of the effects of interventions in worksite nutrition are of interest to all.
Food pricing, parallels with tobacco initiatives and the potential of legislation to address the public health epidemic are all considered.
The book is very readable if you have an interest in obesity but I suspect most occupational physicians do not and therefore this may only be of interest to those contemplating a Membership of the Faculty of Occupational Medicine (MFOM) project on the topic. The book lacks insight from an occupational health perspective and from a UK/European perspective. Any further editions would benefit from these additions. At £49.50, I feel that the book is pricey for its audience and means that many readers will borrow it rather than buy it.
Rating
(Reference only) For most occupational physicians.
(Borrow from the library) For anyone with an interest/MFOM project background reading.
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