The prevalence of overweight and obesity in Wales is rising. Being overweight or obese increases a persons risk of acquiring a range of chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease.
Public Health Wales Evidence Service have conducted a review of systematic reviews to examine what works in terms of universal, whole system and settings-based interventions, for stabilizing or reducing the prevalence of overweight and obesity. This work has been undertaken in order to inform interventions, policies, and programmes to help reduce the burden of disease for key conditions such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
Overall, 26 systematic reviews met the inclusion criteria for this review of systematic reviews. Evidence highlighting the effectiveness of universal, whole system or settings-based interventions on a range of outcomes has been summarised into 15 intervention summaries which can be found below.