According to scientists from the University of Glasgow, obesity should now be treated in the same way.
Why? Because obesity and excess body fat appear to cause more deaths than smoking.
According to a study published in the
BMC Public Health journal, deaths caused by smoking fell from 23.1% to 19.4% between 2003 and 2017 - roughly the period encompassing the smoking ban and subsequent restrictions on cigarette advertising.
However, over that same timescale, the percentage of deaths attributable to obesity and excess body fat increased from 17.9% to 23.1%.
Scientists leading the study estimate that deaths caused by obesity and excess body fat overtook those attributable to smoking in 2014.