When four-year-old Lucía from Santiago chooses a snack now, her mother checks for the stark black octagon on the package—a warning that the food is high in sugar, salt, or fat. Since Chile rolled out its landmark Food Labelling and Advertising Law (FLAL) in 2016, more than 321,000 children like Lucía have grown up under a new food environment, one where junk food isn’t just labeled—it’s kept out of schools and off cartoon-laden kids’ menus. A groundbreaking study published in The Lancet now shows that this comprehensive approach has already made a measurable difference: children exposed to the full suite of policies had up to a 2.85% lower probability of excess weight. For a nation where childhood obesity rates once ranked among the highest in the world, this shift isn’t just promising—it’s proof that coordinated public health action works.
The FLAL didn’t rely on a single fix. Instead, it combined front-of-package warning labels, strict limits on child-targeted marketing, and bans on selling unhealthy foods in schools. As Guillermo Paraje, economist at Adolfo Ibáñez University and lead author of the study, explains, “It makes no sense to have a good labeling system and allow food companies to lure children with toys or cartoons.” The policies were phased in between 2016 and 2019, and researchers tracked children from prekindergarten through first grade, comparing those exposed to the rules with those who weren’t. The results were clear: the earlier and longer the exposure, the greater the benefit. Girls saw a 2.85% drop in excess weight risk, boys a 2.4% drop—modest numbers on paper, but ones that could translate into millions of healthier futures.
What makes Chile’s case unique is not just the design of the policies, but the evidence that they work together. While sugar taxes and warning labels have been studied individually, this is the first national-level study to show that a policy “cocktail” can reduce childhood obesity. The data, drawn from Chile’s Nutritional Map and Vulnerability Survey, tracked children from 2012 to 2017, capturing changes before and after the law. Even children with just six months of exposure—those in first grade only—saw reduced risks, with girls’ probability of excess weight dropping by 1.91% and boys’ by 2.24%.
Industry pushback was expected, with claims that such regulations would hurt jobs or hurt business. But Paraje points to studies in Chile, Peru, and Mexico showing no negative impact on employment after similar policies were introduced. “The use of scientific evidence, free of conflicts of interest, is a way to resist pressure,” he says. As more countries—from Mexico to New Zealand—consider adopting Chile’s model, the message is clear: protecting children’s health isn’t about one big fix, but about creating an environment where healthy choices are the easy ones. And for families in Santiago, that starts with a black octagon on a cereal box.