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Review
. 2022 Nov 22:30:102068.
doi: 10.1016/j.pmedr.2022.102068. eCollection 2022 Dec.

Public health interventions tackling childhood obesity at European level: A literature review

Maria K Chrissini  1 , Demosthenes B Panagiotakos  2
Affiliations
Review

Public health interventions tackling childhood obesity at European level: A literature review

Maria K Chrissini et al. Prev Med Rep. .

Abstract

Childhood obesity pandemic, a form of malnutrition including undernutrition, and other food-regime associated risks, has universally been on the rise during the chronic period of the past 4-5 decades and is now acknowledged as one of the most "toxic fuel" accounting for poor health in the majority of countries. In order to find remedies to heal this alarming issue, a corpus of European interventions have been brought to light in the recent years. Since the vague influence and effectiveness of these measures / policies is to be further identified, their evaluation screening is underlined as a pivotal necessity. Within this framework this paper aims to critically report on the development and evaluation of the implementation of the European Union, World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe, and European Union countries' national public health policy interventions and action plans in the fight against childhood obesity. Thus, this is a narrative review synthesizing the results -following a qualitative interpretation and analysis- of recent scientific epidemiological research and review studies evidence concerning European public health interventions tackling childhood obesity, through computer-assisted literature search -via PubMed, Scopus, and Google Scholar- scientific databases. According to the literature data, it is concluded that despite the unprecedented public health challenge of addressing childhood obesity, the extent to which related European policies and programs targeting healthy nutrition, increased physical activity, and healthy lifestyle ethos are truly efficacious is still under inquiry.

Keywords: COSI, WHO European Childhood Obesity Surveillance Initiative; Childhood obesity; EU; HFSS, High in saturated Fat, Sugar, and Salt; Interventions; NCDs, Non-Communicable Diseases; Nutrition policy; OW&OB, Overweight & Obesity; PA, Physical Activity; Public health; SFP, School Food Policy/Policies; WHO Europe.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
The multisectoral and multidisciplinary context of public health policies targeting childhood obesity.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
The MOOSE flow diagram showing study selection process.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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