eNews Briefing button

Lightening the load: Tackling overweight and obesity - updated March 2007

Author/Editor: Dr Kerry Swanton and Monica Frost - Consultant Editor Dr Alan Maryon Davis
Produced by: National Heart Forum in association with the Faculty of Public Health and Department of Health
Cost: Free
Download Available: Lightening the load: Tackling overweight and obesity (5.82 MB)

Lightening the load: Tackling overweight and obesity has been designed to provide a starting point for developing a local strategy to tackle overweight and obesity. It is intended to help local multiagency teams - including public health, health promotion and primary care professionals, and strategic planners in both the NHS and local government in England - to develop and implement strategies and action plans to halt the year-on-year rise of overweight and obesity through prevention and management.

The new toolkit provides a comprehensive collection of information and tools including useful statistics, practical initiatives, evidence of effectiveness, checklists, frameworks and examples of good practice. It incorporates all the latest guidance from NICE (National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence) and other relevant organisations.

Lightening the Load has been fully endorsed by NICE, the Food Standards Agency, the Royal College of General Practitioners, the Royal College of Nursing and the Royal College of Physicians.

The NICE guideline on obesity can be downloaded at www.nice.org.uk/guidance/CG43. Further information on the Department of Health's national obesity programme is available at www.dh.gov.uk/obesity.

See NHF press release:  16/02/07 - New tools to tackle obesity 
See DH press release:    04/04/07 - Tools to improve health (opens in new window)

Availability:

Lightening the load is available as a download from this website and from the Faculty of Public Health's website

Limited hard copies can also be ordered from the Department of Health by quoting '50374/Lightening the Load: tackling overweight and obesity' from:

DH Publications Orderline
PO Box 777
London SE1 6XH
Email: dh@prolog.uk.com
Tel: 08701 555 455
Fax: 01623 724 524
Textphone: 08700 102870 (8am to 6pm Monday to Friday)
www.dh.gov.uk/publications

Download individual sections and tools below:

Introduction:   Overweight and obesity: Intro (198 KB)

A: Overweight and obesity: the public health burden (463 KB)
This section focuses on the public health case for developing a local overweight and obesity strategy.

B: Overweight and obesity: reducing the burden (268 KB)
This section looks at ways of reducing the burden of overweight and obesity through prevention and management. It considers the broad principles involved and some of the evidence supporting particular approaches.

C: Developing a local overweight and obesity strategy (276 KB)
This section provides a practical guide to developing a local strategy to prevent and manage overweight and obesity.

D: Resources (4.94 MB)
This section contains the tools highlighted in section C, as well as further information on national policy drivers, and details of useful organisations and websites.

Individual tools can be downloaded below:

For more information:

-----------------------------------------------

Also on this website:
Overweight and Obesity
Children's diet