We are getting fat and sick in increasing numbers and it’s placing a devastating burden on our healthcare systems. Scientists in every field are desperate to explain this epidemic and stave off a modern health disaster. But what’s to blame? Carbs, fat or sugar? Gut microbes or genes? Laziness or poverty?

In The Truth About Fat, Anthony Warner scrutinises the explanations of experts in every field, speaks to those who dedicate their lives to helping obese people and to others who live with their own larger bodies every day. As he lays out the best evidence available, he rails against quack theories preying on the desperate and considers whether we are blaming our own bodies for other people's ignorance and cruelty. What remains is the unvarnished truth about one of the great preoccupations of our age.