Chile scores rare success in tackling the childhood obesity epidemic

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By Olivia Bowthorpe

Introducing prominent warning labels on unhealthy foods appears to be helping to tackle rates of childhood obesity in Chile, an analysis has found.

Black octagonal front-of-package warning labels were added to foods and drinks high in sugar, salt, saturated fat or calories, under the 2016 Chilean Food Labelling and Advertising Law (FLAL). Marketing and school restrictions were also brought in.

They found that children exposed to the law were less likely to be overweight or obese than slightly older groups.

Researchers writing in the Lancet said their results provided “crucial, evidence-based support for policy makers worldwide who are considering food environment policies as a scalable, impactful strategy to combat the childhood obesity epidemic".

Professor Guillermo Paraje, health economist at the School of Business of Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez in Chile measured the impacts of the first phase of the FLAL by reviewing data from more than 320,000 children aged four to six between 2012 and 2017.