Europe is committing itself to rolling back the flab. The world鈥檚 first international charter for tackling obesity, involving 53 nations, will be unveiled in Istanbul, Turkey, later this month.
鈥淲e think it鈥檚 a milestone in the fight against obesity,鈥� said Francesco Branca, the World Health Organization鈥檚 European adviser on nutrition and a key architect of the charter, speaking at a press conference in London last week.
Although soaring rates of obesity in the US have attracted most attention, the situation in Europe is equally dire, according to the WHO. If current trends continue, a tenth of Europe鈥檚 children will be obese by 2010, twice the proportion a decade ago. And if no action is taken, almost 150 million Europeans across all ages will be obese by 2010, compared with 125 million in 2002. 鈥淭he immediate target is to stop the increase in children,鈥� says Branca. Once an adult is obese the condition is very difficult to reverse and almost invariably progresses to diabetes, which massively escalates the cost of medical treatment. In the UK alone, the direct costs per year of tackling obesity doubled to about 拢13 per citizen between 1998 and 2002.
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While the charter cannot force governments to take action, it will encourage them to tackle obesity on four fronts: improving exercise and diet, especially in school; making healthy food more available; regulating the advertising of junk food to kids; and counselling people against overeating.
