Curbing obesity: prevention and treatment.

practices. It also offers lessons on how to bring about change, highlighting what can be achieved by a global movement linking international and domestic action, involving national coalitions, NGOs, the media, and mobilisation of the public to create sustained pressure for change. It is possible that success might be achieved without global regulation but it is essential that the option is not ruled out. Some elements of the food industry have adopted policies that are likely to be beneficial but there is still a very long way to go. The global public health community might usefully recall Theodore Roosevelt’s advice to ‘speak softly but carry a big stick’. The views expressed here are not necessarily those of the authors’ organisations. The authors report no competing interests.