Health experts believe that governments should play a crucial role in ending the growth of obesity worldwide.
A study published in the Bulletin of the World Health Organization (WHO) suggests that governments are capable of slowing down or reversing the obesity epidemic worldwide by adopting policies that could regulate fast food consumption.
A group of researchers in the U.S. and Ireland conducted a study on the effects of market deregulation on fast food consumption and body mass index (BMI), and observed that as the annual fast food transactions per capita grew from 26.61 to 32.76 per person, the average BMI also increased from 25.8 to 26.4, which means that growth in fast food transactions correlate with an increase in the population's average BMI.
The researchers also believe that deregulation policies that free markets from burdensome government regulations and taxes facilitate the spread of fast food and thus contribute to obesity growth. "Indeed, although all countries included in our sample have experienced increases in fast food consumption and mean BMI over the period studied (1999-2008), nations that have adopted more stringent market regulations have experienced slower increases in both," the researchers wrote.
The researchers also said that governments could adopt measures that could address the obesity epidemic. "Unless governments take steps to regulate their economies, the invisible hand of the market will continue to promote obesity worldwide with disastrous consequences for future public health and economic productivity," said study author Roberto De Vogli, from the Department of Public Health Sciences at the University of California-Davis.
Some of these suggested policies include giving incentives and subsidies to growers who sell healthy foods; adopting trade regulations that would discourage the import and consumption of fast food and soft drinks; using effective labeling systems; adopting zoning policies to control food outlets; and tightening advertising regulations on fast food and soft drinks.
"This study shows how important public policies are for addressing the epidemic of obesity," said Francesco Branca, director of the World Health Organization's (WHO) Department of Nutrition for Health and Development. "Policies targeting food and nutrition are needed across several sectors including agriculture, industry, health, social welfare and education.Countries where the diet is transitioning from one that is high in cereals to one that is high in fat, sugar and processed foods need to take action to align the food supply with the health needs of the population."
