Obesity, hunger, and agriculture: the damaging role of subsidies

doi:10.1136/bmj.331.7528.1333

BMJ 2005;331:1333-1336 (3 December), doi:10.1136/bmj.331.7528.1333

Education and debate

Obesity, hunger, and agriculture: the damaging role of subsidies

Liselotte Schäfer Elinder, associate professor¹

¹ Swedish National Institute of Public Health, 103 52 Stockholm, Sweden

Correspondence to: L Schäfer Elinder liselotte.elinder@fhi.se

Globally, we are producing more food than the population needs.Subsidising overproduction in Europe is affecting the healthof people in both Africa and Europe

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Introduction

Being overweight is becoming the norm rather than the exceptionin most developed countries, and obesity is a serious healthproblem worldwide.¹ Many people see obesity as a lifestyle issue.However, behavioural interventions to prevent obesity in bothadults and children have generally been ineffective,² indicatingstrong influences beyond individual control. Considerable resourcesare currently invested in developing drugs to prevent and treatobesity. However, from a societal perspective, prevention ofobesity through diet and physical activity should be given priorityfor both economic and ethical reasons.^1
3 Chopra and DarntonHillrecently suggested that we need a global strategy on food similarto the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.⁴ Their suggestedactions are mainly aimed at reducing demand for food. But weargue it is equally important to tackle the oversupply of food,driven by agricultural subsidies.

European common agricultural policy

The societal changes causing the worldwide increase in bodymass index include mass production . . . [Full text of this article]

Increasing dietary energy supplies worldwide

Agricultural subsidies coupled to production should be phased out

Two steps towards better health

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