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

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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 …