Our bodies are our own responsibility, readers told us, and it's none of the Government's business what we put in them. In any case, many of you felt, health warnings, like those on cigarette packets, are unlikely to be effective.
Readers were equally unimpressed by the variety of diets that constantly offer solutions to the problem. Cutting out fats, carbohydrates or dairy is not the answer. Instead, our correspondents advocated good, old fashioned healthy eating, together with more exercise.
For some readers, our modern lifestyles were to blame for the obesity problem. We now have less time for exercise and less time to plan a balanced meal, so we eat microwaved convenience foods and take the car to the supermarket.
Some suggested tackling this with healthy eating classes in school, tax on fatty foods or even a tax on obese people themselves. Ultimately, as a few readers pointed out, we all bear the burden because our tax money is being spent on obesity-related health problems.
But you told us that more willpower, not legislation, is what we need. These are some of the comments we received:
Lessons in cookery and nutrition should be mandatory in schools. Too many people have no idea how to produce the simplest meal, hence the enormous market for ready meals and convenience food. Jonathan Bird, London.