BIG NEWS ABOUT OBESITY

It doesn’t come much bigger than this. The problem. And the analysis.

The problem is so huge, there aren’t enough clichés to go round it. According to The Economist magazine on 22nd November:

• More than 2.1 billion people, nearly 30% of the world’s population, are overweight.
• About 5% of deaths worldwide are related to excess weight.
• Almost 50% of the world’s adults could be too fat by 2030.
• No nation has slimmed down over the past 30 years.

The analysis was undertaken by McKinsey Global Institute in an effort to understand which of 44 policy measures are most cost-effective.

The 5 most effective were:

• Portion control
• Product reformulation
• Restricting high calorie contents
• Weight management programmes
• Educating parents.

Apparently, “leaving it to individuals to slim down through dieting and exercise without any such help, MGI concludes, consistently fails.”