Balancing Upstream and Downstream Measures to Tackle the Obesity Epidemic: A Position Statement from the European Association for the Study of Obesity

Individually-oriented responses to obesity often depend upon high levels of personal agency, and may thus contribute to widening inequalities [6.] [...]when problems are framed largely as the result of a failure of willpower, this promotes stigmatization of individuals affected by overweight or obesity. Key Points Public health actions to tackle obesity have historically focused on individual-level changes to diet and physical activity, rather than the upstream actions required to alter the structural drivers of behaviour. Harry Ruttera, Maira Bes-Rastrollob, Stefaan de Henauwc, Marjaana Lahti-Koskid, Susanna Lehtinen-Jackse, Dana Mullerovaf, Finn Rasmusseng, Aila Rissanenh, Tommy L.S. Visscheri, Lauren Lissnerj aECOHOST - The Centre for Health and Social Change, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK; bDepartment of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, University of Navarra, and CIBERobn, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, and Navarra's Health Research Institute (IDISNA), Pamplona, Spain; cDepartment of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium; dFinnish Heart Association, Helsinki, Finland; eFaculty of Social Sciences (SOC) / Health Sciences, University of Tampere, Tampere, Finland; fDepartment of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine in Pilsen, Charles University, Plzeň, Czech Republic; gDepartment of Health Sciences, Lund University, Lund, Sweden; hObesity Research Unit, Diabetes and Obesity Research Program Unit, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland; iResearch Group Healthy Cities, Windesheim University of Applied Sciences, Zwolle, The Netherlands; jSection for Epidemiology and Social Medicine (EPSO), Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden 1 Butland B, Jebb SA, Kopelman P, McPherson K, Thomas S, Mardell J, Parry V: