Reducing the size of the Obesity Problem, another Davos 2004 session

Here is a raw summary of a very interesting session in Davos this year about Obesity.

The issues raised by obesity are increasing across the developed world and touches developing countries as well.

Medical costs for diabetes and hypertension are growing, so is litigation against food and beverage companies.

Do we have to tax fat and sweet food ?

The short and straight answer from a representative of a huge food and beverage company is NO.

In the US obesity as become a serious topic for the Health and Human Services Administration: a huge problem. "We need to educate people to do exercise, eat better and learn how to do diets."

Some statistics :

- In 1991 1 US State only had 15% of obesity

- In 2003 all US States but colorado have 15% of obesity !

Government needs private sector's help with companies such as Pepsico and Unilever to cope with it.

The administration point of view is also that taxation would have a bad impact.

Role and responsabilities of marketing and advertising:

The opinion of the advertising sector is that we have to change the food we produce and what children want to eat.

We must work with the marketing guys to put pressure on our children.

For example can you imagine an automatic pop-up in Microsoft Windows every 30 minutes saying "have you done some exercise today?".

Obesity is not a individual choice because it has a big impact on health economy.

Department of US Health speaker: colaboration of public and private sector is fundamental.

Food industry representative : This collaboration has not existed since 1950's. The fish fingers were invented in the early 1950's because the UK government asked for kids to eat more fish which was crucial for their health.

Unilever has a health institute which works on how to reformulate the products to adapt to the world diversity. There are some sensitive topics such as sugar reduction, reorientation of advertising and marketing to deal with an healthier life.

95% of the food products advertised in Europe are for children and are junk food. We have a strict control around alcohol why not to do the same regarding ads for kids ? Progress is very slow because of lobby groups.

There is no Black or White: we need an enormous collaboration and a supportive environment.

Some goals for the food industry :

- Less sugar

- Less Salt

- Use of fat substitution components ( Finland reduced dramatically several heart deseases by doing so)

- Simplify Labelling

- Explicit energy balance (calories monitoring)

- Make it easy for people to choose the right product for their health.

There is also a deep change in the way we eat :

- 1950's : 2 hours to prepare dinner

- 2003 : 15 minutes to prepare dinner

Poverty is related to obesity:

In the poor districts you find mostly low grade supermarkets (no fruits, no vegetables), fast food restaurants...

In conclusion, to fight obesity all key players need to make a platform to solve this complex issue:

- Governements

- Food industry

- Private sector by promoting diet and exercise in their own teams

Take a look to this article which explains what Australia Post did in 2002 to fight obesity and the limits of it.


What is in your opinion the best way to address this issue ?