This is a uniQue book about preventing childhood obesity because contributors from around the world share 
their knowledge and experience, approaching and 
analysing the topic from an international perspective 
rather than the usual narrow national approach. 
This book also provides the latest evidence-based 
research, as well as policies and practices in the 
prevention of childhood obesity.  

The book is divided into four parts. In part 
one, the readers are given an overall picture of 

how the problem needs to be solved. What social 
and environmental factors drive the increase in 
childhood obesity? How do social, environment 
and cultural issues affect the solutions? This section 
is subdivided into five chapters which familiarise 
the reader with the context of childhood obesity 
covering topics such as: the obesity epidemic, 
the sharp rise of childhood obesity and how 
most countries of the world are affected by the 
epidemic. The experience of attempting to scale 
up the resource to non-communicable diseases in 
resource poor settings is also covered. The section 
describes the collective effort by governments, 
international organisations, the private sector and 
civil society to prevent childhood obesity. What 
are the ethical issues when it comes to intervention 
and programmes aimed at the prevention or 
treatment of obesity in children? This part of the 
book concludes by discussing the human rights 
which are relevant to childhood obesity. It is an 
excellent introduction to the subsequent chapters 
of the book and sets out the analytical process 
which the authors use to tackle the issue. 

 Part two commences with an overview 
which provides the framework for evaluation 
and alternative study designs in building a useful 
evidence base. This part of the book outlines the 
evidence for prevention in multiple settings from 
the home and family environment to school. It 
also describes the current evidence and practices 
in the prevention of childhood obesity in primary 
health care settings. The current evidence base 

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BOOK REVIEWBOOK REVIEW

Preventing Childhood Obesity 
 Evidence, Policy and Practice

Editors: Elizabeth Waters, Boyd Swinburn, Jacob Seidell, Ricardo Uauy
Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell, BMJ Books, 2010

ISBN: 978-1-4051-5889-3 
Orders: http://eu.wiley.com

SQU Med J, December 2010, Vol. 10, Iss. 3, pp. 414-415, Epub. 14th Nov 10 
Submitted - 21st Aug 10



Elizabeth Waters, Boyd Swinburn, Jacob Seidell and Ricardo Uauy

Book Review | 415

for childhood obesity prevention in primary care 
is poor and no clear effective approach can be 
advocated from the literature. It concludes with 
evidence on the environmental influences on 
obesity: food and food marketing, physical activity 
and poverty. 

 Many researchers have discussed the effect 
of rapid economic growth and cultural changes 
in developing countries on the nutritional status 
of communities. This part of the book gives the 
reader a good understanding of the relationship 
between the rapid growth and urbanisation in 
developing countries in the coexisting model of 
undernutrition and obesity and how it affects the 
prevention of childhood obesity.

In Part 3, there is an explanation of how new 
evidence is gathered and applied in the field. The 
authors have utilised their experience and previous 
studies to discuss this evidence and how to utilise 
it in different settings. They also discuss what other 
factors could hinder the translation of knowledge 
into practice. It starts with the evaluation of 
community based obesity interventions. What 
works at home and in what circumstances and 
why does it work? Marj Moodie points out the 
cost effectiveness of these interventions by using 
the modelling method. Jaap Seidell describes the 
importance of monitoring the childhood obesity 
epidemic and how this can help in putting actions 
into effect and evaluating impacts. Rebecaa 
Armstrong et al. discuss knowledge translation 
and exchange. This is a complex process because 
of the many systems that need to change to reduce 
the “obesogenic” environment. The last chapter 
discusses the guidelines on advocacy for childhood 
prevention and how to implement a successful 
advocacy campaign.

The final section of the book discusses the 
application of existing evidence to various sectors 
where policies and practices can be changed. The 
reader will understand how difficult it is to apply 
the solutions in the real world, and what tactics 
are needed as well as how to deal with the political 
agenda. It starts with defining the role of policy in 
obesity prevention and how to put these policies 

onto government agendas around the world. 
Chapters 26 and 27 examine the EPODE (Ensemble 
Prévenons l’Obesité Des Enfants) programme 
which has the credentials internationally of a 
programme extending across many communities 
and several countries. The lessons from this 
programme, in social marketing for obesity, are 
discussed in the next chapter. This section also 
discusses very important practical issues like 
health promotion in schools with a focus on healthy 
eating and physical activity and the interventions 
needed for minorities in developed countries with 
all the complexity of culture, migration effect, 
marginalisation and socioeconomic disadvantages 
which they experience. The last chapter is written 
by Bill Dietz a pioneer in obesity research. He 
explores the lessons learned from the efforts to 
control tobacco consumption as a potential model 
for obesity prevention and control 

By the end of the book, the reader will 
understand the real threat facing the world in 
fighting this disease. The problem is complex and 
the reader might find it difficult initially to follow 
the different  aspects discussed in this book, but 
later on once he or she has an overall idea, the 
reader will get a good grasp of it. It would have been 
useful if more graphs and diagrams had been used 
to make the book more reader friendly. The book 
has been written by many authors from around the 
globe which gives it an international flavour and 
enriches its scientific content. The book also has a 
website where updates and resources for the books 
in this series are available. I recommend the book 
as a reference tool for professionals working in this 
field. 

Saif Al-Yaarubi
Department of Child Health 
Sultan Qaboos University Hospital, Muscat, Oman 
Email: hawa34@hotmail.com