"Use cigarette-like notification to make fatteners deterrent"

Obesity issue becomes bigger

Obesity (meaning a Body Mass Index higher than 30) is an ever-increasing issue: the number of obese people doubled between 1980 and 2008. On a worldwide scale, 10 % of all men (205 million) and 14 % of all women (297 million) are obese. The number of casualties because of obesity grew from 2.6 million in 2005 to 3.4 million in 2010 – mainly in the United States, China, Brazil and Mexico.

According to Consumers International and the World Obesity Federation, the time for idly standing by is over. They do not want a repeat of the tobacco story, when the branch under attack first refused to acknowledge the problem and even tried to make it seem like smoking was healthy.

Warning on the label

The organizations ask for warnings to be put on food packages that may lead to obesity, like we have labels on packets of cigarettes already. Measures also have to be taken to limit the salt, saturated fat and sugar levels while the ads for these products also have to be dealt with.

The obesity report will be presented at the Annual General Meeting of the World Health Organization, which lasts until 24 May in Geneva, Switzerland.