Promoting health literacy and explaining why it is important to eat well will hardly be enough if we continue to be exposed to advertising for unhealthy foods, or brilliant campaigns about highly processed alcoholic drinks or soft drinks.
What do you think would happen if you tell a four-year-old child to eat fruit because it’s good for you, but leave them in a room full of gum and chocolates? The will and determination of each child will have an impact on the result, but it is undeniable that this environment will not facilitate decisions.
This is what happens with commercial determinants of health. Just as the social environment influences our choices, so does the environment created by large industries influences what we eat, drink and do on a daily basis.
All of this influences our behavior: the food we find on the shelves, the advertising that appears on social media or on television and even the snacks that are given in schools.
We need public health policies that protect us and guarantee that the marketing of ultra-processed foods or alcoholic beverages, for example, is controlled and complies with regulations.
Promoting literacy and explaining why it is important to eat well will hardly be enough if we continue to have children heavily exposed to advertising for unhealthy foods, or glossy campaigns about highly processed alcoholic drinks or soft drinks.
Obesity is not just a lifestyle condition
Last week, there was a lot of talk about the new guidelines for treating obesity launched by the . They are an important milestone so that the narrative that obesity is a choice ends.
This guideline reminds us that obesity is not just a risk factor or a lifestyle condition, but a disease in itself, shaped by a complex combination of biological, social, commercial and environmental determinants.
It is in this sense that they recommend that, in addition to food, movement, sleep, mental health and the environment, appropriate medications are also used. These are not fashionable injections, they are serious and effective treatments that reduce the risk of diabetes and heart disease.
But we cannot celebrate this milestone by ignoring another essential part of the guideline, which reinforces exactly this: that the environment also has to change. If we don’t change the environment that causes the disease, we will always be chasing losses and will continue to spend much more money treating diseases than preventing them.
With fewer and fewer resources, no matter how many medicines we have, the health sector will always be unsustainable if healthy lifestyles are a luxury and not a right.
At this moment, having access to fruit and vegetable baskets, extended breastfeeding leave, or access to sports and culture are benefits that almost only reach those who can afford them.
We need to create an environment that prevent the disease before it appears: regulate advertising, facilitate healthy choices, make environments fairer and ensure that access to treatment does not depend on your wallet.
