Chile Warning Labels Linked to 2-3% Lower Obesity Risk in Young Children

Chile's 2016 introduction of black octagonal warning labels on packaged foods high in sugar, salt, calories, and saturated fat coincided with measurable drops in overweight and obesity risk among young children, according to a new analysis published in The Lancet. 9% lower risk of being classified as overweight or obese. 4% lower risk.

Recent data indicate that about one-quarter of Chilean children qualify as obese and more than 50% qualify as overweight. The analysis was funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies. Chile enacted stricter requirements around warning labels in 2018 and 2019.

Economics researcher and study co-author Nieves Valdes said in a press release that even a small weight reduction for children who have overweight or obesity is likely to bring meaningful long-term health benefits. @statnews reported that Chile's restrictions on food packaging, labeling, and marketing have been called the world's most ambitious attempt to remake a country's food culture and lower childhood obesity rates.

5% between 2018 and 2020.

An analysis of brain scans from nearly 12,000 children ages 9 and 10, published yesterday in Science, found that household income, local poverty rates, and other neighborhood-level measures of economic activity accounted for about 16% of the variability in children's brain function. Health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Said on Wednesday that his publicly available calendar is an example of his commitment to transparency. STAT has been asking the Department of Health and Human Services for Kennedy's calendar for more than a year.