US embassy cable - 05MADRID551

UNCLAS MADRID 000551 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR OES/IHA AND EUR/WE; HHS FOR 
OS/OGHA/BUDASHEWITZ AND NIH 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SOCI, SP, Other 
SUBJECT: SPAIN FIGHTS FAT 
 
REF: 04 MADRID 3835 
 
1.  The Health Ministry unveiled February 10 Spain's first 
ever Nutrition and Obesity Prevention Strategy (NAOS).  To 
respond to what she labeled Spain's obesity "pandemic," 
Health Minister Elena Salgado launched a largely exhortatory 
effort to get Spaniards to voluntarily reduce their daily 
intake of unsaturated fats, salts and sugars and engage in 
increased physical activity.  Salgado said that 14.5 percent 
of Spanish adults were obese and 38.5 percent were 
overweight.  She argued the problem was even more alarming 
for Spanish children, whose obesity rate (for children aged 
between six and 12) has increased from five to 16 percent 
over the past decade.  Thirty percent of children in this age 
group are now considered overweight.  The Minister claimed 
that health problems related to obesity were responsible for 
seven percent of Spanish health spending. 
 
2.  NAOS was produced after a cooperative effort by 80 
stakeholders.  The plan, inter alia, calls on the processed 
food industry to reduce the sodium content of their products 
by 10 percent and to reduce advertising for their least 
healthy products.  It also asks food producers to put clearer 
nutritional information on their labels and requests that 
restaurants serve more fruits and vegetables and include 
nutritional information on their menus.  NAOS also calls on 
schools to introduce nutrition classes, ban soda and snack 
food machines, and serve more nutritional school lunches. 
Only on the school front does NAOS call for legislation (a 
possible Royal Decree Law to regulate school cafeterias). 
 
3.  NAOS leaves it up to business to decide how to accomplish 
the plan's general objectives.  It does not include any 
special taxes or tax incentives to encourage compliance.  The 
Minister stressed that "bad foods do not exist; only 
unbalanced diets." 
 
4.  COMMENT:  Salgado was spurred into action by a report 
released last fall by the Spanish Society for the Study of 
Obesity.  The numbers she cited February 10 were the figures 
announced in this study and reported in reftel.  After this 
report was published, Salgado announced that she was 
"worried" by the results and planned to do something about 
this problem.  And now she has.  But her plan largely lacks 
enforcement mechanisms and relies on the goodwill of the 
processed food industry.  Snack or "junk" foods often include 
larger profit margins than other foodstuffs.  Asking business 
to take measures that may have a direct impact on their 
bottom line may not produce the results sought by Minister 
Salgado.  But there is clearly some value in merely 
increasing awareness of the problem.  They say that 
recognizing you have a problem is the first step toward 
solving it. 
MANZANARES