Obesity

Fatty America!

The OECD ranked the United States Number 1 in both child and adult obesity in 2010; since then we haven’t improved, but other nations are catching up with us.

The Global Obesity Observatory ranks the Polynesian islands and some Caribbean countries higher than the United States in both adult and childhood obesity. But among the industrialized democratic countries, the United States has the highest percentage of overweight adults and overweight children.

How are we doing fighting against obesity? In its 2021 Report, “Obese and Overweight Population,” the OECD found that the US ranked 34th (out of 34 member countries reporting); https://data.oecd.org/healthrisk/overweight-or-obese-population.htm.

Sources: “Ranking, % Obesity by Country,” Global Obesity Observatory, https://data.worldobesity.org/rankings/?age=a&sex=t;

“Obese and Overweight Population,” OECD, https://data.oecd.org/healthrisk/overweight-or-obese-population.htm.

How Did They Do It?

Food Labels in Chile. In 2016, Chilean government passed a law, over the vehement objections of the food processing industry, that banned ads directed at children if those products exceeded standards for calories, fat, sugar, and sodium.