The WFP Centre of Excellence against Hunger highlighted the role of regulatory policies for the food industry to combat obesity. The alert was made during the Second Regional Meeting on Actions to Prevent Childhood Obesity, which brought together Latin American and Caribbean countries in Brasilia on 3 and 4 June. According to the WFP Centre, measures such as labelling with frontal warnings on food composition give consumers the information they need to make informed choices about what to eat.
The event was conducted by the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) and the Brazilian Ministry of Health and was attended by delegations from 13 countries, in addition to Brazil. Daniel Balaban, director of the WFP Centre of Excellence, said that reducing household purchasing power is associated with rising obesity. “When people start to have fewer conditions to consume, they become obese. That’s because the most affordable foods are the ones that are most harmful to health, have more sugar and sodium, and the ultraprocessed foods that are available on every supermarket shelf,” he explained.
Obesity may endanger the future of children, according to Socorro Gross, representative of PAHO and the World Health Organization (WHO) in Brazil. She pointed out that childhood obesity has roots in several factors and therefore requires intersectoral responses, and cited measures already enshrined in international publications to combat the global epidemic of overweight.
“We can cite sweetened beverage taxes, the regulation of advertising of ultraprocessed foods for children, the implementation of frontal warning labelling, the promotion of physical activity and the encouragement of breastfeeding,” said the expert during at the event opening.
Brazil’s Minister of Health Luiz Henrique Mandetta said the fight against overweight among children should mobilize other branches and areas of government, such as economy, agriculture, education and sports.
“When we talk about childhood obesity, we consider two pillars: first, food; second, physical activity, which helps reducing the time children spend looking to screens. Across the world, they have become much more reclusive, much less exposed to the playful activities typical of childhood and adolescence,” added Mandetta.
Representatives from Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Risca, Ecuador, Grenada, Mexico, Panama, Peru and Uruguay participated in the event.
Florence Bauer, head of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Brazil, warned that obesity has grown at early childhood. “Obesity and overweight are a global phenomenon. In the world, 40 million children between zero and five years of age are already suffering from overweight.” In addition to the impacts on physical health, the problem can harm the mental health of young people, according to Ms. Bauer.
