Childhood Obesity as a Social Problem: Prevention policies in Spain and Portugal

Abstract

At the present time, while hunger and malnutrition affect the poorest countries on the planet, in developed societies diseases linked to overweight and obesity are threatening to become a medical pandemic. Changes in dietary habits and in lifestyles explain a lot of the problems with overweight and obesity that are now so widespread in developed societies. Particularly, with respect to Portugal and Spain, obesity affects a significant part of the child population, but it does not do so equally across all social sectors. So, the evidence indicates that in both countries the children of the most disadvantaged social sectors in terms of income and education are more likely to suffer overweight or obesity than children from families with higher education and incomes. As a reaction to this, food policies for obesity prevention and education among the child population are being carried in Spain and Portugal by educational and health care authorities.