The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has recently published a new report on obesity. The document provides an overview of the current status of overweight and obesity in the OECD countries as well as an analysis of the effectiveness of the national measures used to counter such burden.
Obesity is a complex phenomenon that requires the consideration of multiple factors. The causes of overweight and obesity are multiple, so are the measures tackling such burden. The OECD Report provides an overview of the current status of overweight and obesity in the OECD countries as well as an analysis of the effectiveness of the different measures used nationally to counter such burden.
You will find below a summary of the key points highlighted in each of the 7 chapters of the report.
Chapter 1: Introduction on the obesity and economics of prevention
– clear influence of the major health determinants: tobacco, alcohol, lack of physical activity and poor diet, on the burden of chronic diseases,
Chapter 2: Past and Projected future trends
– increase of human height and weight since 18th century and especially since 1980s,
– globally, overweight concerns 50% or more of the population,
– obesogenic environments: social, economic and physical environments have contributed to the trend,
– role of individual attitudes (influenced by education and socio-economic conditions),
Chapter 3: The social dimensions of obesity
– no uniform influence of gender on obesity rates within the OECD countries,
– complexity of the link between socio-economic conditions and obesity,
– overweight or obesity have influences on the labour market outcomes: less employment rates, wage differences, lower productivity…
Chapter 4: How does obesity spread?
– supply and availability of food have changed: development of food production technologies, increasing use of promotion and marketing, food pricing: nutrient-poor food products cheaper than nutrient-rich products,
– role of governments policies during the last decades has also impacted on the epidemic (transport policies, taxation, urban planning policies…)
– role of “social multiplier”, i.e social networks
Chapter 5: The role of goverments and markets in tackling obesity
– consumers receive confusing information on health and lifestyles,
– possible action on the availability, accessibility and affordability of healthy options,
– education and information as a way to make healthy option more attractive,
– contribution expected from economic operators on food reformulation, limitation of marketing activities, transparency and content of food products.
Chapter 6: The impact of interventions
– tackling obesity through actions on health promotion and education, regulation and fiscal measures and counselling in primary care are all effective,
– effectiveness of multiple-intervention strategies,
– fiscal measures produce larger health gains amongst the poorer,
– the high involvement of both supply and demand, the long-term sustainability of effects, the ability to generate social multiplier effects and the combination of multiple interventions are key to successful prevention measures.
Chapter 7: Information, incentives and choice: a viable approach to preventing obesity
– crucial for prevention strategy to tackle both population and individuals,
– multi-stakeholder approaches are effective,
– prevention strategy need to tackle the influence of education and information, social norms, individual choice and values as well as the government’s capacity to act through regulation notably.
For further information:
Further information on the report can be found here
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