So what is surprising about the latest fat-map report, funded by drug company Roche, is not how many people in Calderdale are apparently overweight but actually how few.

The figures, collected through GPs across the district, suggest less than eight of us in every 100 are medically obese. Even in the worst parts of Yorkshire – Barnsley – that number is little more than 10 in 100.

Compare that to Government projections which suggest two in five people in Yorkshire will be overweight by 2010 and there are clearly major disparities.

Yet, who is right and who is wrong about the exact number is less important than how we go about approaching the issue itself. After all, even one person becoming ill through being overweight is one too many.

The latest report – not surprisingly, perhaps, given who it is funded by – argues for greater use of fat-busting pills such as Orlistat, an approach which anecdotal evidence suggests is increasingly adopted by GPs.

But it is surely ridiculous to think such a solution can ever bring anything but its own problems.

Perhaps there are some cases, when all other options have failed, where it might be acceptable for these pills to be prescribed.

But in the vast majority of instances, health does not come from popping pills, it comes from nothing more complicated than healthy living.

Exercise, good food and moderation in all aspects of our lives is what will keep us in good shape. That is what must be prescribed by GPs for that is the best, most cost-effective and simplest way to combat obesity, no matter how large or small the problem.