media briefing

International Association for the Study of Obesity and the International Obesity TaskForce

Background

IASO was founded in 1986 and launched at the fifth International Congress on Obesity held in Israel. It has expanded rapidly in recent years reflecting the growing interest in research into a disease now regarded as a major global epidemic. It is now the umbrella organization for 37 member associations covering 41 countries and representing more than 7,500 individual scientists, clinicians, nutritionists, health specialists and others in the field of obesity.

In 1974 the first International Congress on Obesity in London brought together pioneering research scientists investigating weight disorders and weight-related disease. Further International Congresses on Obesity were held every three years until 1986 and every four years since then.

The International Journal of Obesity, IASO’s official journal, was established in 1976. It is ranked as the number one journal in its field over the last decade. (ESI Special Topics, May 2002 http://esi-topics.com/obesity )

The IOTF

The International Obesity TaskForce was created in 1996 by Prof Philip James and others committed to obesity research as a spearhead for action to combat the global epidemic of obesity. It became a part of IASO in June 1997 after the IOTF, with the help of hundreds of scientists around the world, had provided evidence and support for a WHO consultation on obesity held in the same month. The consultation led to an interim report and the WHO Technical Report 894 published in early 2000.

In June 1997 IOTF convened a workshop on childhood obesity in Dublin, which proposed a programme to be led by the IOTF to establish a common standard for assessing obesity in children and adolescents. IOTF working group proposals were published in the British Medical Journal in June 2000 and have been widely adopted for use worldwide.

In addition to the childhood group, the IOTF formed expert working groups on public health and prevention, management, training, and health economics. The IOTF has also engaged teams to work on the preparation of further policy and research analyses including physical activity, facilitated regional declarations on obesity by concerned scientists, convened a special workshop to examine obesity in Asia and arranged policy workshops in developing countries including Commonwealth member countries.

The IOTF continues its programme of advocacy and advisory work with international agencies, governments and ministerial groups, supports WHO in consultations and research, has made a major contribution to WHO research including the Global Burden of Disease analysis, operates on a global platform with regional groups on childhood obesity, management and public health prevention evidence, policy analysis and recommendations, provides a communications hub and a unique international information resource used by both researchers and the media, provides close liaison and joint actions with other key stakeholders, and holds joint meetings to broaden the obesity agenda.

After operating from the Rowett Research Institute in Aberdeen, Scotland, the IOTF established a London office with a partnership agreement with IASO and registered as a charity in England in 1999. The IOTF Asia-Pacific bureau was established in Sydney, Australia in 2000.

Recent developments

In 2000 IASO established a new journal, Obesity Reviews, to publish wider analysis of scientific developments. IASO, IOTF and WHO jointly published Redefining Obesity in Asia Pacific proposing a re-assessment of overweight in Asia. Subsequently a WHO consultation in Singapore adopted a proposal to define overweight as Body Mass Index >23 and a series of IOTF papers on Asian anthropometrics are published in the August edition of Obesity Reviews.

In 2001 IASO became a formal NGO in official relations with WHO, with IOTF fulfilling its advocacy role at meetings of the World Health Assembly and elsewhere. The IOTF provided several key contributors to the WHO’s expert consultation on Diet, nutrition and the prevention of chronic disease earlier this year as well as finalizing its contribution to the WHO Global Burden of Disease. In September the IOTF is also preparing contributions with the European Association for the Study of Obesity to a European Union “summit” on obesity in Copenhagen and a meeting of health ministers in the Asia-Pacific region.

During 2002 IASO launched its Stock Conference in Bangkok, Thailand, to honour the late Prof Michael Stock, former editor of the International Journal of Obesity. The conference considered the topic of physical activity and issued its own consensus statement. The next Stock conference is planned to take place in Lisbon, Portugal, in March 2003 and will focus on adipose tissue.

IASO and IOTF are working on a number of joint projects including a publication with the International Diabetes Federation on obesity and diabetes.

► The President of IASO for the past four years has been Prof Stephan Rössner, head of the Obesity Unit at the Huddinge University Hospital, Sweden. He is leading the IOTF management group’s work on improving standards of treatment for overweight and obesity. As well as being a leading authority in this field, he is well known on Swedish television as a chef and raconteur.

► The chairman of the IOTF, Prof Philip James is a leading authority on nutrition and health and has been a senior adviser to the World Health Organization and governments over many years. Formerly director of the one of the largest centres for nutrition research, the Rowett Research Institute in Scotland, he chaired the United Nations Millennium Commission on the Nutrition Challenges of the 21st Century. He is vice president of the International Union of Nutritional Sciences.