Poobalan et al. BMC Public Health 2010, 10:17 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/10/17 Page 3 of 7 Analysis of UK obesity recommendations using the Implementation Framework The 21 selected reports were analysed using the pro- posed implementation framework based on 7 criteria (see Additional file 2). The findings are summarized in Table 1. All 21 studies [12-32] clearly define the target population and prioritise in terms of either prevention and/or treatment. Sub-groups of the community vulner- able to obesity are specifically targeted within recom- mendations. The organisations responsible for implementation [12-26,28-32] was considered by 20 of the studies. The Government, Department of Health, Cabinet Task Force, NHS and physicians were identified as having responsibility for monitoring of implementa- tion, but 5 out of the 21 articles did not report on how the implementation progress should be monitored or evaluated. Achieving set milestones, conducting regular audits and maintaining databases on progress were tools suggested for monitoring and evaluating the progress of implementation. Although stated, there was no evidence of ownership of these published recommendations. Only four reports considered an implementation time- frame [13,14,23,31]. The report by the Faculty of Public Health [13] set the time for achieving targets to be Figure 1 Selection process of the review. Flow diagram of the selection process of the review for the appraisal.