Research is our best weapon in the fight against covid-19 and obesity

The obesity and covid-19 pandemics have been shown to be interlinked, and both urgently require more research to provide clear evidence on how best to beat them

FOR months now, UK prime minister Boris Johnson and his ministers have been repeating a mantra for tackling the coronavirus pandemic: follow the science. Debates about “the” science aside – the UK government seems to have had too many modellers and not enough public health experts advising it – an approach based on evidence is always a good one.

Evidence, however, can sometimes be lacking. On 29 January, early in the pandemic, the World Health Organization published a guide on the use of medical masks by the general public to slow the spread of the virus. It said that compulsory …