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It is six o'clock on Wednesday and Luz Curin, a 37-year-old paramedic, is buying with her three-year-old son who, stuck in the cart, jumps, plays and bites a toy dinosaur [19659002TheboywithbigeyesandanintimidatinglookalsoreturnsapacketofchocolatecookiesthathehopestoeatoncetheypayandleavethisgiantsupermarketinSanMiguelabourgeoisneighborhoodinSantiagofromChileChile
In a long corridor full of cereals and sweets, Carin explains that has no choice but to buy and give his son this "junk food".
"The child asks me, because it is what we give him at school on special occasions and if I do not give him not, he gets angry and starts crying, "he explains with the end of the tiredness of the end of the day.your child's obesity – believes that" we will all end up with kidney disease "But I do not see a solution," he concludes.
In Chile, however, a few years ago, a possible solution to this problem problem – for many "epidemic" – affecting a third of the world's population: obesity.
This is a controversial law of labeling adopted in 2016 that has been celebrated by the world of nutrition and puts black seals, large and ugly to foods that exceed certain levels of sugar, fat and of sodium . "HIGH IN", inform logos
"The truth is that we try not to buy food with a stamp, but it is difficult," says Curin.
Gradually, the law imposed on food companies increasingly strict rules on advertising targeting children, information on ingredients and sales in schools nationwide.
On Wednesday, June 27, two years after the entry into force of the law, there was a new cut, so more products will have to put the famous stamp on their packages.
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Top positions in obesity
Chile is one of the countries with the highest rates of obesity in Latin America, according to several studies.
Last year, the World Health Organization n reported that 63% of the adult population is overweight a rate that is reduced to 50% among six-year-olds or less.
According to the WHO, Chile is, after Mexico, the country that consumes the most processed food in the region, with an annual average of 201 kilograms per person
- Is Mexico he really the most obese country in the world?
To reverse this trend, Senator Guido Girardi – a medical graduate – proposed to approve this law against the will of food companies, a process that took a decade, demonstrations in the streets and fierce fighting with the media, politicians and citizens.
"What we want is that the industry sells food and not garbage" tells me he in his congressional office
The senator indicates the nutritional information file of the product and asks me: "What do you understand about it?"
"Nothing", I answer. he explains: "That's what they're looking for, that information about what this product is so confusing that you can not understand it."
" People are not obese because they are, but because there was misleading advertising because neurointelligence specialists manipulated people to change their eating habits, "he tells me.
I'm talking about the case of Curin, the paramedic who does not have time to cook "He's right," he replies, "because part of the education we need to do is to to rebuild the culture of cooking. "
Copyright of the image AFP But in addition to education, which takes time and is complicated, Girardi goes to public policy: "With that you can support"
"Sugar is the tobacco of the twenty-first century", he concludes, about which – "sooner or later" – he There will be more taxes, more awareness and more disgust for tobacco.
Projects like the Labeling Act have been tried in Colombia, the United States and Mexico, but the food business lobby has managed to stop them with political pressure and arguments on the real impact of a law on culture.
"We fully share the objectives of this law," says Rodrigo Álvarez, president of the chamber bringing together agribusiness companies, AB Chile.
"We think that there is a problem of the l & # 39; obesity d) that healthy lifestyles should be promoted and that some elements of the law on labeling, such as healthy living kiosks, are positive. "
However, the business community is questioning the application of the same measures and criteria for different products, not only for its ingredients, but also for its liquid or solid state. [19659020] 
" The problem it's not necessarily the amount of sugar that each product has; is the size and quantity of the portions and that is why we propose a more explanatory approach to the norm for people to change their eating habits, "concludes Álvarez
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What studies say
Neither Girardi nor AB Chile know if the law worked, because studies on this subject are not completed.
Although different investigations conducted during the first year show that the majority of Chileans – among the 50 and 70% – approve the law and say that they have changed their habits, the concrete impact takes time to measure.
Camila Colvaran, one of the researchers from the University of Chile reviewing the legislation, ensures that "we saw, for example, that the industry respected the stamps and that people understood the logos and related them more or less to health, partly when they bought a new product. "
"We also find, through focus groups that children tell mothers not to buy products with stamps because they do not leave them"
The latter is corroborated by Álvarez: "We have never hinted at the economic question of impact, but if you ask me the question,"
"Although it is only In the beginning, there was a drop in sales, "he adds.
" I changed my habits "
if people are more or less fat after the law n & rsquo; There is no answer.According to the Ministry of Health, this will be known in 8 or 10 years.
Neither industry nor lawmakers deny that virtually no chili it was left out of the turmoil that generated this law.
Back at a supermarket in Santiago, this time in the Nathaniel neighborhood, several families with children aboard the tank say that they know about the stamps, but do not necessarily take them into account.
Leonor López, a 10-year-old girl, explains – with the endorsement of her mother – what logos mean and why he does not like the products that have them.
"It's that they have a lot of fat, guácala," he says. But these are not just the stamps: "The media compañeras (secondary) sell blown full of fat and I do not like them either."
And Felipe Neira, a 44-year-old engineer who markets with his wife and son, he says that they "facilitated the process of choosing what I eat"
"I was looking at the tablet but now it's much easier to know what I want and what I do not want, "he says. He laughs as his son crosses the corridors with a sword in his hand.
"Look, that's what we buy now. ", he tells me.It is a bag of carrots.
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