The Greeks were the first to recognize obesity as a medical disorder. Hippocrates (he of the famous oath) wrote that “Corpulence is not only a disease itself, but the harbinger of others”.

During most of history, however, mankind has struggled with food shortages of varied severity, so overweight has often been seen as a sign of wealth. For example, in the painting of The Tuscan General (right), which dates from about 1645, not only is the General’s corpulence not disguised, it is positively emphasised as a sign of his wealth and status.

Nowadays, overweight or obesity is regarded as something to be avoided. Advertising and publicity in general emphasises slimness as the ideal; it would be extremely unusual to see a picture like that of the obese man (left) in any fashionable publication!

The World Health Organisation (WHO) predicts that overweight and obesity may soon replace traditional health concerns such as under-nutrition and infectious diseases as the main cause of ill health, especially in the developed world. Overweight is now generally accepted as a contributory factor in a large range of diseases, but most especially diabetes, heart disease, cancer and osteoarthritis.

Of course, this does not mean that an overweight person will inevitably suffer from one of the diseases listed above, but it appears indisputable that excess weight greatly increases the likelihood of an individual contracting such diseases. So it is clearly important for a healthy lifestyle that weight should be regarded as a factor. Hence the proliferation of weight loss products that can be seen advertised in any newspaper today.