Italy was once a model of healthy eating – now it has an obesity problem in children

Obesity is “a growing global epidemic,” says the World Health Organization. More than a billion people worldwide are now overweight and childhood obesity has quadrupled since 1990.

In the year By 2025, Italy has become the first country to pass national legislation recognizing obesity as a chronic, progressive and relapsing disease.

The nation’s new law recognizes obesity as a chronic disease influenced by biology, environment and social factors, rather than just a poor choice.

The Campania region has become a testing ground for putting that philosophy into practice, implementing a series of ambitious interventions – including the controversial trial of a “rapid fad diet”.

Researchers are recruiting 300 overweight teenagers to follow a controlled diet of 1,100 calories for five days every three months and 770 calories for four days – so it resembles restricted fasting.

The goal is to trigger a “metabolic reset”.

“Fasting, or controlled deprivation of food, is associated with a longer and healthier life,” says Dr. Longo, who has been studying the effects of fasting for three decades.

But not all obesity specialists are convinced that fasting is the right approach for children.

Pediatrician Bernie Kanani believes the evidence for simulating fasting in children is still too limited to recommend it in Italian clinical guidelines.

He also thinks that restrictive diets can pose a psychological risk to the developing adolescent’s relationship with food.

“I fear that imposing food restrictions on teenagers will increase the risk of eating disorders, anorexia and disfigurement,” he said.

Meanwhile, Salvatore hopes to have surgery in the summer, so that, for the first time in years, he can wear a swimsuit without feeling himself.

But he is not alone. Across Italy, more and more children are being weaned off the Mediterranean diet that once made the country famous.

Additional reporting by Bob Howard.