The Lancet study confirms effectiveness of Chilean model in fighting child obesity

17 June 2026

A study about the effects of the 2016 Chilean Food Labelling and Advertising Law (FLAL) has confirmed a modest but consistent positive impact of this law in fighting child obesity. The law, a precursor of similar legislations globally, introduced front-of-package warnings for foods high in fat, sugar, salt, and calories, as well as complementary measures restricting marketing of unhealthy foods to children, taxation schemes encouraging reformulation, and public education campaigns.

So far, only the impact of isolated policy measures had been studied.

The study, led by Guillermo Paraje, from the university of Santiago, and published by the Lancet, analysed a dataset of 321 597 Chilean children between the ages of 4 and 6, from kindergarten to first grade. The study covered the period from 2012 to 2017, the first phase of implementation of the Food Labelling and Advertising Law.

After 18 months of exposure to the new legal framework, girls had a 2.85% lower probability of excess weight and boys had a 2.40% lower probability. Smaller though significant effects were observed after 6 months of exposure, too.

Although the magnitude of the observed effects is modest, the outcomes are encouraging at the population level given that even small shifts in weight trajectories during early childhood can influence obesity risk later in life.

The analysis is restricted to short-term outcomes in early childhood. Longer-term impacts remain unknown.

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