Supermarket shelf length and an increase in obesity? And using that correlation, maybe...penis length and an increase in birth rate!

People are fat because "they" themselves eat unwisely, and exercise unwillingly!

Simply grabbing hold of Ockham's Razor would have made short work of dismissing the claim that larger supermarkets cause larger girths. The simplest explanation is that larger supermarkets have richer customers. It's prosperity that drives obesity. Seems obvious to me. Yes, I know the old argument that poor folk eat cheap 'unhealthy' fast food and that's why they get fat. But they just aren't poor enough, so they can eat too much of it. I don't want to trivialise the very real problem of obesity as a personal as well as a public health problem. But until we take a rational approach and accept that eating more energy than we expend is always the reason for putting on weight then public health messages simply will not work.

What causes obesity is people eating too much, you fool.

Well, the experts on causes of obesity right here on OLO have safely concluded, the primary cause of obesity is overeating.

The pertenent question though, is what are the most effective strategies to use in assisting people who suffer from the hugly debilitating effects of obesity.

It is a terrible condition!

Eating has become an addiction, to an ever increasing cohort of people!

Alcoholics are not assisted by reducing the size of a bottle shop! Likewise, over eaters will not be assisted by reducing the size of supermarkets! A safe bet!

Education is the only answer. Fat parents produce fat children over time, I have noticed consistently .

Fat parents are the problem! It is them that are the perpetuators of obesity, not the supermarket, nor Mc Donald's et al. Knowledge is power! Education is the simple answer.

No, stupidity and laziness cause obesity. Before anybody becomes obese, they must first be overweight. Becoming overweight serves as an early warning system that you need to change your behaviour or you will become obese. The people who are too stupid to heed this warning or too lazy to change their behaviour are the ones that progress to obesity.

One way to address obesity is to remove subsidies from health care treatment for anyone who has a self induced health issue.

Alcohol addiction, smoking issues, dangerous activities (un supervised) and of cause obesity.