The McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) has recently published a Discussion Paper on obesity : «HOW THE WORLD COULD BETTER FIGHT OBESITY».

It is a quite interesting exercise, in which many experts have contributed to this (eternal) debate on obesity. The Paper proposes 74 intervention across 18 groups, some of them I want to comment on.

First of all, certain proposals are based on the traditional restrictive approach (ie, media restrictions, taxes and subsidies, limited high calorie food and drink availability,…) Personally, I do not believe in this kind of measures that distort markets, are not science based, and rely more on imposition that in education.

But on the other hand, there are some interesting and fresh proposals that fuels a new kind of debate, such as urban redesign and urban environment (topics under discussion in the WHO), parental education, workplace wellness,…

There are others missing, especially how Research and Development can help in this fight against obesity. I firmly believe that Science will open great opportunities in this field, mainly genomics – see the contributions of Professor JM Ordovas.

But if we want to be positive, we have to admit that something is changing in this debate. It is evolving from an initial stage demonising food and drink products, to a more open minded approach, in which the progressive introduction of new elements is bringing some kind of balance to the whole public debate.

Hope it will continue – and faster, in order to win the battle against obesity.