Obesity and overweight in Europe and lessons from France and Finland.

While there are some identifiable patterns in obesity prevalence across Europe, these are very complex and caution must be exercised in making comparisons and drawing conclusions. • The only thing that is certain is that the rise of obesity is very widespread. • The complex origins of the obesity epidemic make it difficult to learn lessons from other countries. • We were able to draw some broad conclusions as to how interventions may work best from the study of Finland, but we must be careful about generalising across space, time and cultures. • Detailed case studies can provide some useful information and the international dissemination of information on obesity trends and interventions and their results has the potential to be a key resource for policy makers in the future.