The present article is part of a debate that questioned whether physical activity or obesity should be the preferred target for health policy. Weiler and colleagues suggested to focus on physical activity rather than obesity to reduce the risk of chronic diseases. First of all, they highlighted the fact that 95% of the population in England and in the United States did not meet the recommendations for the amount of weekly physical activity providing health benefits. The association between physical inactivity and several chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, dyslipidemias, hypertension, stroke, cancer, etc. was highlighted. Accordingly, they presented the relationship between regular physical activity and reduced risk of diabetes, obesity, osteoporosis, colon cancer and improved mental health. Finally, they specified that modifying the environment to facilitate the practice of physical activity could result in a 25% increase in the number of people who exercise. On their side, Gill TP, Baur LA and King LA argued in favour of tackling all the causes of obesity in order to improve public health. They emphasized the importance of working on reducing physical inactivity as well as improving poor nutritional habits in order to be more effective in preventing chronic diseases and produce larger population health gains. They also proposed the elaboration of programs that would improve the urban setting to increase physical activity as well as the accessibility to healthy foods. Therefore, they encourage global healthy lifestyle habits rather than a focus of physical activity alone.
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