[Exercise. Prevention and health promotion--pathways to innovation in public health?].

Besides appropriate nutrition, adequate exercise is the universal remedy. Regular endurance training elicits positive effects in numerous organs and tissue systems in the sense of primary prevention. Nevertheless, a lack of exercise and obesity are widespread among the German population. In addition to the individual's own responsibility, measures for disease-oriented prevention as well as for preserving health should be improved based on broad social consensus. To begin with, improved research on treatment and prevention should be required. This national challenge should not only be financed by health insurance funds but also by taxes and levies (e.g., tobacco tax). Only then can the constantly spiralling costs of public health be met.