EU & US: consumer education is the key to fight obesity

"Markets should go before mandates and the invisible hand of markets [industry self-regulation] should be privileged to the heavy hand of governments," outlined the deputy secretary of the US Department of health and human services, Alex Azar, the American view on the issue and emphasised the importance of providing more info on healthy diets to the consumers so that they can do informed choices. Further, "there also needs to be a business case for healthy food," he added meaning that the markets will produce healthy and tasty food if there's a market demand for it. 

"It is consumers who will decide what to buy, what to eat and how much. The target is to enable consumers to make informed choices, based on information which is accurate, truthful and not misleading," said Health and Consumer protection Commissioner Markos Kyprianou. 

"There are some common principles on which we can all agree, including the need to focus attention on calories as opposed to specific food categories, to recognise the importance commercial communications can play in promoting healthier living and to encourage physical activity," said Director General of CIAA, Daniela Israelachwili.

To read stakeholder reactions to the Commission's green paper on obesity, click here.