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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 [19659002TheboywithbigeyesandanintimidatinglookalsoreturnsapacketofchocolatecookiesthathehopestoeatoncepaidandleavethisgiantsupermarketinSanMiguelabourgeoisneighborhoodofSantiagodeChile
In a long corridor full of cereals and treats, Carin explains that has no choice but to buy and give his son this "junk food".
"The child asks me because it is what he is given to the school on special occasions and if I do not give it to him he gets angry and starts to cry, "he explains, with the end of the day work
Curin – worried but resigned to his son's obesity – believes that" we will all end up with kidney disease, diabetes and high blood pressure "because of what we eat.
"But I do not see a solution," he concludes.
In Chile, however, a few years ago, a possible solution was put to the test for this problem – for many "epidemics" – which affects a third of the world's population: obesity .
This is a controversial bill of approval approved in 2016 that was celebrated by the world of nutrition and puts black, tall, and ugly stamps on foods that exceed certain levels of sugar, fat and sodium ] "HIGH IN", inform the logos.
"The truth is that we try not to buy food with a stamp, but it's difficult," says Curin.
Gradually, the law imposed increasingly strict rules on the advertising of foods to children, information on ingredients and sales in schools in the country.
] On Wednesday, June 27, two years after the coming into force of the law, there was a new break, so that more products will have to put the famous seal on their packages.
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 reported that 63% of the adult population is overweight a rate that is reduced to 50% in children aged six years or under.
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 kilos per person.
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 him about ten years, demonstrations in the street and fierce fighting with the media, politicians and citizens.
Guido Girardi is one of Chile's most controversial senators. Some consider him a "political animal", others a "small". He credits it with "a career dedicated to stepping on tripe". / BBC "What we want is that the industry sells food and not garbage," he told me in his congressional office, while he's taking a cereal box and the watch.
The honorable senator points out the nutrition factsheet for the product and asks me, "What do you understand about this?
"Nothing", I answer. And then he explains: "That's what they're looking for, that the information on what this product is is so confusing that you can not understand it."
" People are not obese because they are, but because there has been false advertising because neurointelligence specialists have manipulated people to change their traditional eating habits, "he tells me.
I am talking about the case of Curin, the paramedic who does not have the time to cook and who is forced to buy industrial products.
"And he is right," he replies, "because we have to rebuild
So, as in the vast majority of countries, they were previously cereal boxes in Chile : with dolls who according to their critics called to conquer the stomach of children. / AFP " People today do not consume products, but a way of life an American style that has separated us from our traditions".
But in addition to educating, which takes time and is complicated, Girardi goes to public policy: "With this you can advance the market to be consumed in a healthier way. "
" Sugar is tobacco of the 21st century, "he concludes, referring to what -" sooner or later "- there will be more taxes, conscience and disgust on processed foods. [19659002] Projects such as the labeling law have been tried in Colombia, the United States and Mexico, but the food business lobby has been successful in stopping them with political pressure and arguments about the impact. "We fully share the objectives of this law," says Rodrigo Álvarez, president of the chamber that brings together the food companies, AB Chile.
"We believe that 39, there is a problem of obesity, that it is necessary to promote modes of healthy living and that some elements of the law on labeling, such as healthy living kiosks, are positive. "
However, the business world questions the same measures, seals and criteria for dissimilar products, not only for its ingredients, but also for its liquid or solid state.
Chile is among the countries with the highest obesity in the region and is the second most consumed food. / BBC "We have seen, with studies, that these products only represent that 30% of people's diet, and that there are traditional products that are just as harmful and that are not labeled, "he says.
An example may be sopaipilla, a traditional fried bread , sweet and consumed daily in the Southern Cone.
"That's what I mean," says Alvarez, "you can not demonize a product that meets health standards when there are many of them." Others that are consumed under conditions p ires. "
" The problem is not necessarily the amount of sugar that each product has, it's the size and quantity of the portions and that's why we propose a more explanatory approach of the norm so that people change their eating habits, "concludes Álvarez
What studies say
Neither Girardi nor AB Chile know if the law worked, because studies on this subject do not work. have not been completed.
Although different surveys conducted during the first year show that the majority of Chileans – between 50 and 70% – approve the law and say they have changed their habits, the concrete impact takes time to measure.
Camila Colvarán, one of the researchers at the University of Chile, reviewing the legislation, badures that "we have seen, for example, that the industry respected the stamps and that people understood the logos and linked them more or less to health, special when you buy a new product. "
Three children choose a juice. They badyze which has more or less sugar. They do not choose the healthiest, but not the most harmful. / BBC "We also find, through focus groups that children tell mothers not to buy products with stamps because they are not allowed to take them away at school, with seals, like cereals and sweetened beverages, they came down. "
This is corroborated by Álvarez:" We have never hinted at the economic question of l & rsquo; Impact, but if you ask me the question, there has been a significant cost in terms of changing the cost structure.
"Even though it was only at the beginning, there was a drop in sales," he adds.
"I changed my habits"
But the question of whether people are bigger or smaller after the law has 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 Chilean has been left out of the turmoil generated by this law.
Back in a supermarket in Santiago, this time in the Nathaniel neighborhood, several families with children aboard the truck say they know the stamps, but do not necessarily take them into account.
Leonor López, a 10-year-old girl, explains to me, with her mother's approval, what the logos mean and why she does not like the products that have them.
Felipe Neira says the stamps made it easier for him to choose food. "That's what we eat now," he says with a laugh, referring to the carrots. / BBC "It's that they have a lot of fat, guácala," he says. But it is not only because of the stamps: "The media companions (secondary) sell blown full of fat and I do not like them either".
And Felipe Neira, a 44-year-old engineer who marries his wife and son, says that they "have facilitated the process of choosing what to eat."
"I used to look at the small picture, but now it's a lot easier to know what I want and what I do not want," he says.
"First, it's the pocket, the eye, it's the priority, but then there is health and finally if you like," laughs t he as his son crosses the corridors with a sword in his hand.
"Look, that's what we buy now," he tells me. It's a bag of carrots.
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