A food policy package introduced in Chile that combines front-of-package warning labels, school bans on junk food, and strict limits on child-targeted marketing has successfully reduced the childhood overweight and obesity rates, according to a landmark study published in The Lancet on Thursday.
Researchers say the findings offer the first concrete, national-level evidence that a coordinated policy can curb early childhood obesity.
The data provides a timely roadmap for countries like Bangladesh, which are currently battling a double burden of persistent undernutrition alongside skyrocketing obesity rates.
Chile historically ranks among the nations with the heaviest rates of childhood weight issues.
To tackle the crisis, the country launched the Food Labelling and Advertising Law (FLAL) in 2016, widely considered one of the world’s most aggressive food reforms.
The law targets products high in sugar, saturated fat, sodium, or calories using three main levers: mandatory black, octagonal warning symbols on packaging, a total ban on these foods in schools, and tight restrictions on advertising aimed at children.
To measure its impact, researchers tracked national data on over 300,000 Chilean schoolchildren aged four to six, comparing their weight before and after the law took effect.
The results were clear: children exposed to the new regulations for 18 months were significantly less likely to be overweight or obese than previous cohorts in the same grades.
Among girls, the risk dropped by 2.9%, marking a 1.4 percentage point decline from a heavy baseline of 47.7%.
Boys saw a 2.4% drop, down 1.2 percentage points from a baseline of 52%.
Even just six months in, the law had already made a noticeable change, reducing risk by 1.9% for girls and 2.2% for boys.
"While isolated measures like soda taxes do help, this is the first study to prove that a comprehensive policy package can turn the tide on early childhood obesity across an entire nation," said Professor Guillermo Paraje of the Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez Business School in Chile.
"These results give teeth to public health advocates worldwide. They prove that warning labels, school restrictions, and marketing bans actually work in the real world," he added.
The study only looked at the law's first phase in 2016.
Chile tightened the screws even further in 2018 and 2019 by lowering the thresholds for what counts as "unhealthy", phases not covered in this data.
Co-author Dr Nieves Valdes pointed out that the long-term impact is likely even higher.
"Even a modest-looking reduction in early childhood makes a massive difference over a lifespan," Valdes explained, noting that childhood weight issues heavily predict chronic conditions later in life, including type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and cardiovascular disease.
In a commentary published alongside the study, Professor Simone Pettigrew and Dr Daisy Coyle of The George Institute for Global Health in Australia wrote that the findings provide vital ammunition for governments facing intense pushback from the food industry.
They argued the data proves governments must move past half-measures and instead deploy aggressive, multi-pronged policy packages.
Lessons for Bangladesh
The Chilean success story carries major weight for Bangladesh, where childhood obesity is quietly exploding, particularly in urban centres, even as millions of children still suffer from stunting and undernutrition.
Public health experts have long warned that an influx of ultra-processed foods, cheap sugary drinks, and high-calorie snacks is fueling an NCD (non-communicable disease) crisis, driving up early rates of diabetes and heart issues.
Right now, Bangladesh’s regulatory framework is comparatively weak as the country has no mandatory front-of-pack warning labels for high-sugar or high-salt foods, marketing restrictions aimed at protecting kids are minimal, and nutrition standards in school cafeterias or vendor stalls are rarely enforced, according to the local experts.
Chile’s data proves that relying on individuals to "make healthier choices" doesn't work when the surrounding food environment is toxic. By changing the environment itself, making bad food easy to spot, keeping it out of schools, and stopping brands from advertising to kids, a country can shift population habits at a large scale.
Experts suggested that, for Bangladesh, copying this playbook could drastically boost ongoing efforts to fight chronic diseases. Public health groups have been pushing for tougher labelling laws and cleaner school environments for years.
However, experts warn that pulling this off will take serious political backbone, major public awareness campaigns, and a regulatory body capable of staring down industry pushback.