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But this will only happen if ordinary citizens are calling for a "radical overhaul" of the relationship between policy makers and businesses, concluded nearly four dozen experts from the Lancet Commission on Obesity.
"A powerful opposition from the interests, a lack of political leadership and a societal demand for insufficient change prevent any action," they said in a statement.
Nearly one billion people are hungry and two billion others are eating too much of the wrong foods, leading to epidemics of obesity, heart disease and diabetes.
Unhealthy diets account for up to 11 million premature deaths each year, according to the latest Global Disease Burden report.
"Malnutrition in all its forms – including undernutrition and obesity – is by far the leading cause of poor health and premature death worldwide," said Boyd Swinburn, co-chair of the commission, professor at the University of Aukland.
"Climate change is expected to significantly worsen malnutrition and obesity."
The way food is currently produced, distributed and consumed not only feeds hunger and obesity pandemics, but also generates 25 to 30 percent of the greenhouse gas emissions that heat the planet.
Bovine production alone is more than it is the case for these gases, in the form of flatulence charged with methane and CO2 when forests, especially in Brazil, are cleared to accommodate livestock.
A car-dominated transportation system contributes 15 to 25 percent of emissions and promotes a sedentary lifestyle.
Triple pandemic
"All these factors are underpinned by weak political governance, the continued economic pursuit of GDP growth, and the powerful commercial engineering of overconsumption," the report says.
"Undernutrition is declining too slowly to reach global targets, no country has reversed its obesity epidemic and comprehensive policy measures to counter the threat of climate change have barely begun."
Despite 30 years of scientific warnings about the disastrous consequences of global warming, CO2 emissions reached record levels in 2017 and last year.
As all these problems are intertwined, the answers must be too, said the researchers.
"Reuniting three pandemics" – hunger, obesity, climate – "as a" global syndemic "allows us to envision common drivers and shared solutions."
Another report from the Lancet Commission, released last week, called for a radical change in the global diet to improve health and prevent "catastrophic" damage to the planet.
"Until now, under-nutrition and obesity have been considered polar opposites consisting of too few or too many calories," said Swinburn.
"In reality, they are both guided by the same unhealthy and inequitable food systems, supported by the same political economy".
The report calls for a framework convention on food systems – similar to the global conventions on tobacco control and climate change – to limit the influence of the food industry.
How we eat, live, move
Experts also argue that economic incentives need to be revised.
Some $ 5 trillion (€ 4.4 trillion) in government subsidies for fossil fuels and large-scale agri-food should be redirected to "sustainable, healthy and environmentally friendly activities".
To sharply reduce the consumption of red meat, for example, the report advocates high taxes, removal of subsidies, as well as transparent labeling in health and environmental terms.
In addition, they support the creation of a $ 1 billion philanthropic fund to support basic action.
"To attack the" global syndicalism "requires urgent rethinking of how we eat, live, consume and move," said Richard Horton, editor-in-chief. of The Lancet.
The two Lancet reports are not the only urgent call of science in recent months. In October, the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change also called for an economic and social "paradigm shift" to avoid global chaos.
The reaction to Lancet's recommendations has been sharply divided. Health advocates and climate experts praised his radical call for profound change.
"It has been too long since we dream of a sick future," said Katie Dain, executive director of the NCD Alliance.
"A food system that ensures better nutrition for this generation and future generations will save millions of lives and at the same time help save the planet."
Industry representatives and libertarians criticized the findings, calling them overworked and badaulting free choice.
"This is the latest rationale for those of us who have warned against the slippery slope of regulation," said Christopher Snowdon, head of the lifestyle economics at the University of New York. Institute of Economic Affairs, based in London.
"The fanatics of the United States no longer hide their intention to use the anti-smoking master plan to control other areas of our lives."
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