One important reason for the multitude of research activities in this field is because physical inactivity and nutrition are significant risk factors for many common non-communicable diseases. During the past decades physical inactivity and high dietary fat intakes have become increasingly prevalent in peoples daily lives in industrialised countries. To prevent and to tackle these major diseases, there is a need for a much better understanding of the basic biological and underlying patho-physiological processes, as well as more relevant baseline data describing food intakes and physical activity habits amongst the general population.

Being aware of the importance of nutrition and physical activity for health status a multitude of projects with different scopes and methodologies has arisen. This variety makes it necessary to bring the results of these activities into a coordinated framework.

Wilhelm Kirch is Chair of the Institute for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics at the Medical Faculty of Dresden University of Technology.  He is a past president of the European Public Health Association.  He published Extreme Weather Events and Public Health Responses (2005) with Springer, and he is editor of our forthcoming Encyclopedia of Public Health (2008).

1: Background and Purpose.- 2: List of Contributors and Authors.- 3: Objective.- 4: Background Information.- 4.1: Defining Concepts.- 4.2: Geographical Coverage.- 5: Methods.- 5.1: DGs at the European Commission.- 5.2: WHO Section.- 5.3: European Networks.- 5.4: National data .- 6: Results.- 6.1: Analysis and Report on Health Information Activities on Physical Activity and Nutrition; The European Commission (DG SANCO).- 6.1.1: Introduction.- 6.1.2: A Health Information System.- 6.1.3: Community Action in the Field of Public Health.- 6.1.4: In Summary.- 6.2: World Health Organisation (Europe) Position and Activities on Measurement of Nutrition and Physical Exercise.- 6.2.1: Introduction - In The Respective Roles of the WHO and the EC in Europe.- 6.2.2 The WHO and the Rising Challenge of Overweight and Obesity.- 6.2.3 The Total Population, Adults, and Children and Adolescents.- 6.2.4 The WHO and Measurement of Nutrition.- 6.2.5: The WHO and Measurement of Physical Activity.- 6.2.6: The WHO and Major Non-Communicable Disease Risk Factors.- 6.2.7: Health Behaviour of School Children.- 6.2.8: The WHO European Childhood Obesity Surveillance Initiative .- 6.2.9: The WHO European Ministerial Conference 2006.- 6.2.10 Summary.- 6.3: European Networks.- 6.4: National Examples.- 6.4.1: Introduction.- 6.4.2: Country profile sheets.- 6.4.3: Database entries.- 7: Conclusions and Recommendations.