Chile recently implemented groundbreaking regulations on unhealthy foods, and within the first 18 months, the nation saw a drop of nearly 25 percent in the consumption of sugary drinks!
“An effect this big at the national level in the first year is unheard-of,” says Lindsey Smith Taillie, lead author of the study published this month in the PLOS Medicine journal. “It is a very promising sign for a set of policies that mutually reinforce one another. This is the way we need the world to go to begin to really combat preventable diseases like obesity, hypertension and diabetes.”
The regulations, adopted in 2016, include a landmark law that enforces warning labels on the front of packaged unhealthy foods and drinks high in salt, sugar, fat or calories. Other rules include obligatory package redesigns – such as removing cartoons like Tony the Tiger from sugary cereal boxes – and banning television ads for unhealthy products between 6am and 10pm.
Chile’s efforts aim to fight the country’s extremely high obesity rates: three-quarters of Chilean adults and more than half of children are either overweight or obese. But the results of its new rules have shown a promising path to change. In the first year and a half, researchers also saw a five percent increase in healthier drink purchases, such as water and fruit juices without added sugar.
