Childhood obesity is an international public health concern, with a high profile in both the media and government policy. Controversial issues in the prevention of childhood obesity need to be considered early in the development of school, clinical or community prevention programs, as these issues are often the ones that promote the success or failure of attempts to ameliorate the problem at hand. This book combines health education theory, research, and practice to guide researchers, students, educators, community health workers and practitioners in the prevention of childhood obesity and the promotion of child and adolescent health and well-being. It examines controversy in childhood obesity, including the link with poverty and the difficulty of addressing obesity whilst also tackling the issue of eating disorders. The prevalence of childhood obesity is covered, with international chapters examining the importance of factors such as social class and ethnic differences, and global and local trends are identified. Approaches to prevention are presented, and the book concludes with the successful outcome of various interventions, demonstrating how the whole school community can collaborate to promote health among young people.

This book provides unique and contemporary insights into the major current issues and controversies in school and community health education, physical education and sports, as well as issues in teacher education of these issues. The distinctive focus of this new volume is to describe current issues and controversies using international perspectives and subsequently be able to create practical strategies for health and sports promotion activities in schools, communities and teacher education. Authors have been drawn together from the USA, Canada, the United Kingdom, Israel, New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Portugal, the Netherlands, Sweden and Germany. (Imprint: Nova)