In an article on Time.com, United Nations Special Rapporteur Olivier De Schutter declares that the whole world must unite against unhealthy diets as "they are now a greater threat to global health than tobacco," he explained during his speech at the World Health Organization Summit. "Just as the world came together to regulate the risks of tobacco, a bold framework convention on adequate diets must now be agreed."
Obesity is a global health issue, and he believes that the world isn't pulling all the stops to end the problem. "It has been two years since my report on nutrition and the right to food, and ten years since the World Health Organization (WHO) launched its Global Strategy on Diet Physical Activity and Health," he declared. "Yet obesity continues to advance—and diabetes, heart disease and other health complications along with it. The warning signs are not being heard."
De Schutter strongly suggests that the governement must take action by regulating junk food advertisment campaigns, taxing unhealthy food, regulating fat and sugar content in food, and reevaluating agricultural subsisdies that support the production of junk food.
He further explains, "Governments have been focusing on increasing calorie availability, but they have often been indifferent to what kind of calories are on offer, at what price, to whom they are made available, and how they are marketed."
(Photo courtesy of Vox Efx via Flickr Creative Commons)
