The recent edition of „Postępy Nauk Medycznych” („Progress in Medical Sciences”) presents various aspects of obesity. Currently, obesity constitutes a serious public health problem in many countries and Poland is not an exception in this respect. In Poland, 20% of adults and 3-4% of children are obese and a considerable number of Poles are overweight. Excessive body weight is also a problem whose scale has been increasing in recent years. It is discussed in this edition’s introductory article by Professor M. Jarosz and E. Rychlik, PhD. The article presents the initiatives taken to counteract obesity both in Poland and on the international forum. Activities in Poland are primarily taken under the National Programme for the Prevention of Overweight, Obesity and Non-Communicable Diseases through Diet and Improved Physical Activity – POL-HEALTH.

The initial original paper (by R. Wierzejska, PhD et al.) emphasises the significance of correct body weight of women in reproductive age. Overweight or obesity before pregnancy poses the risk of too high weight gain during pregnancy and development of macrosomia in a child.

The paper on research on body weight and diet of children from primary schools in Warsaw (by K. Wolnicka, PhD and J. Jaczewska-Schuetz, MSc) claims that the development of obesity results from an inappropriate dietary pattern, such as a low number of meals, little fruit and vegetables in the diet and drinking sweetened beverages.

The diet of elderly women suffering from obesity is also frequently inappropriate (as concluded by the paper by Professor J. Charzewska et al.). Their diet has usually high energy content, particularly from fat, which affects their lipid indexes to a significant extent. Obesity in seniors may result in difficulties handling everyday physical activity, as confirmed by the findings contained in the paper on the lifestyle of elderly women (by E. Chabros, PhD et al.).