Editor—Jain cites the lack of existing data on the effectiveness of public health initiatives in her editorial on the recent report on obesity issued by the UK House of Commons Health Committee.¹ She did not take note of the report's findings on the Counterweight Programme (paragraph 350, pp 90-1),² which has already proved to be effective in tackling obesity in general practice and provides more evidence of successful public health initiatives in primary care.

The Counterweight Programme, developed by seven obesity specialists and supported by the National Obesity Forum, is the largest worldwide primary care programme with 120 000 patients reviewed. Results show that the incidence of type 2 diabetes can be reduced by 50% as a result of appropriate weight management in the NHS.³

Counterweight is a dietetic trained nurse led intervention programme in 80 general practices in seven regions of the United Kingdom: Aberdeen, Bath, Birmingham, Glasgow, London, Leeds, and Luton. At each site a secondary care doctor in an obesity or diabetes centre works with a weight management adviser, a state registered dietitian, to facilitate local implementation of the programme. The primary end point of the programme is weight change, and secondary end points are changes in measures of obesity related comorbidities, including mean change in blood pressure, lipids and diabetes control, and drug use.

To date, the treatment of the United Kingdom's current obesity problem has been overlooked in favour of prevention, so we were delighted that the Health Select Committee has not ignored this issue and has highlighted the need for innovative treatments in the NHS such as the Counterweight Programme. The report will stand or fall, depending on the commitment of the government to take immediate action.