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Preface

Clinical Obesity in Adults and Children originated in 1998 from the Editors’ perception of a need for a textbook on obesity which emphasized obesity as a disease entity by reviewing the scientific basis and addressing the clinical and practical aspects of the condition. The introduction concluded that obesity management and research had reached a watershed at the end of the century, given the increasing concerns about the problem for future generations. As we enter the third decade of the new century, such concerns have not only materialized but have been exceeded.

The fourth edition of Clinical Obesity has been written during a pandemic caused by the SARs-CoV- 2 coronavirus. Many contributing authors were actively engaged in the frontline of health care treating patients suffering from this virulent virus. The additional morbidity and mortality of COVID-19 infections associated with excess body weight have emphasized the urgent need for the effective prevention and treatment of obesity.

In the context of a pandemic, this new edition of Clinical Obesity concludes with a timely chapter on the global syndemic. The notion of a syndemic was first conceived by Merrill Singer, a medical anthropologist, in the 1990s. Writing in The Lancet in 2017, Singer argued that a syndemic perspective reveals biological and social interactions that are important for prognosis, treatment, and health policy. A syndemic is not merely a comorbidity; syndemics are characterized by biological and social interactions between conditions and states, interactions that increase a person’s susceptibility to harm or worsen their health outcomes. The Lancet Commission on Obesity proposed that obesity, undernutrition, and climate change constitute a syndemic. Malnutrition in all its forms, including obesity, undernutrition, and other dietary risks, is the leading cause of poor health globally. Climate change is a fundamental part of this because of its sweeping effects on the health of humans and the natural systems that we depend on and underpins the way that we live.

In this edition of Clinical Obesity, we focus on the textbook’s original objectives with chapters on the causes of obesity, obesity as a disease, the management of adult obesity, and childhood obesity. We also include a section on policy approaches that underline the importance of effective and sustainable policies free from political and commercial interference.

We, the editors, have spent long careers concerned about obesity, and we share an exasperation that so little has been accomplished worldwide in reversing its spiraling prevalence and its detrimental effects across all ages. Certainly, the understanding of the science and medical consequences of obesity has grown exponentially, but the drivers of excessive weight gain remain obvious in all societies, yet meaningful policy recommendations fail to be developed or translated into practice, and the economic burden from obesity grows.

We hope that this latest edition of Clinical Obesity enables its readers to understand the complexity of obesity better, both within society and the clinical setting, and provides inspiration and knowledge for those tasked with managing and tackling the condition.

We are most grateful to our co-editors for this edition, Sarah Armstrong, Arianne Sweeting, and John Wilding, for their considerable help and support in bringing this new edition to fruition. We hope that the experience will encourage them to take over the “baton” for future editions of Clinical Obesity.

Peter G. Kopelman, Ian D. Caterson, and William H. DietzLondon, Sydney, and Washington, DC