Acting against obesity: a cross-cultural analysis of prevention models in Spain, Argentina and Brazil

GRACIA ARNAIZ, MABEL; KRAEMER, FABIANA BOM; DEMONTE, FLAVIA CAROLINA

Lima

Congreso; Congreso Asociación Latinoamericana de Sociología; 2019

This article analyses and compares preventive models for obesity in Spain, Argentina and Brazilthrough an examination of the respective measures adopted to counter it in those countries.Based on a qualitative study of the main actions carried out since 2004, the aim is to delineatethe conceptual framework and reflect on the reasons for their relative effectiveness. The resultsshow that in contexts where prevalence has increased rapidly, sociocultural causes acquire greaterexplanatory power as opposed to biological and/or behavioral factors. These models premise worsening diets and sedentary lifestyles as being the main culprits, and assume that contemporarysocieties generate obesogenic and toxic environments. The international health bodies have developed specific strategies to control and prevent obesity based on this diagnosis, and these havebeen supported by member states such as Spain, Argentina and Brazil. Although the measuresreflect certain particularities, they conform to a common pattern organized from platforms promoting so-called ?healthy lifestyles? and articulated mainly around the twin axes of a balanceddiet and regular physical exercise. The discussion suggests that the excessive emphasis on individual responsibility and the underplaying of the role of food as a complex practice, as well aschanging structural factors and the differential distribution of this disease, might largely explainthe limited impact of these strategies.