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SBU on overweight and fatness
The number of persons who are fat have increased drastically during the last 20 years and are now around 500.000 individuals in Sweden. Almost half of the population is overweight. Overweight and fatness can be defined both as a disease and as a cause of many other diseases e. g. Diabetes, heart and vascular diseases and joint diseases. The costs for treatment of overweight and fatness and their sequelae have become both an individual and a national problem. SBU (Statens beredning för medicinsk utvärdering / National council for medical assessment) is an authority which assesses the methods of the health care. SBU analyses benefit and costs for different medical methods and compares the scientific position with swedish medical praxis. The goal is to give a better basis for all who decide what health care to practise. In 2002 SBU published report 160, ”Fatness – problems and measures”, where more than 20 experts assessed the scientific basis for different measures against fatness in adults and children. The basis for both preventive measures and different forms of treatment have been examined. Among the forms of treatment there are diet, exercise, behaviour therapy, drugs, alternative medical and chirurgical methods. More than 2000 scientific reports and articles concerning the national problem of overweight and fatness have been examined och assessed. In the report we can read the following: ”The great problem is that the increase in weight as a rule not lasts. Within a year or two most people who initially reduced their weight have returned to the original weight. It is therefore very urgent to develop and assess long term treatments that aim at lasting loss of weight.” You can read the whole report on http://www.sbu.se/. |
