OBESITY PREVENTION (A MUST, SECTION EDITOR) Obesity Prevention in Latin America Juliana Kain & Sonia Hernández Cordero & Diana Pineda & Augusto Ferreira de Moraes & Daniel Antiporta & Tatiana Collese & Elsie Costa de Oliveira Forkert & Laura González & Juan Jaime Miranda & Juan Rivera # Springer Science+Business Media New York 2014 Abstract In Latin American countries, obesity prevalence has increased significantly as a result of rapid urbanization and an improvement in socioeconomic conditions. We report the prevalence of overweight and/or obesity and prevention efforts in five countries: Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, Peru, and Chile. In children, the highest and lowest rates of obesity are found in Chile (23 % in 6-year-olds) and Peru (1.8 % in those <5 years), respectively. In adults, Mexico and Chile present similar high rates of obesity (around 35 %), whereas in Brazil and Colombia, the rates are around 20 % and 16.5 %, respec- tively. In general, the highest prevalence occurs in low-income women. Every country has developed initiatives to target obesity, from the government to the private sector and acade- mia, mainly at the health sector and school settings. Food labeling is being addressed, but has not been implemented yet. Two interventions are described, a community-based in Mexico and a school-based in Chile. Because the increase in chronic diseases, especially diabetes, has paralleled that of obesity, effective prevention efforts are urgently needed. Keywords Obesity . Prevention . Latin America Introduction During the past three decades, people living in Latin Ameri- can countries have experienced extensive demographic, epi- demiologic, and socioeconomic changes, showing improve- ments in overall health and educational indicators [1]. These processes, known as epidemiologic transition, have occurred at a different pace from country to country and are closely related to increasing urbanization and a reduction in poverty levels, producing changes in dietary and physical activity patterns in all age groups. These changes have been directly J. Kain (*) University of Chile, Santiago, Chile e-mail: jkain@inta.uchile.cl S. Hernández Cordero : J. Rivera National Institute of Public Health, Cuernavaca, Mexico S. Hernández Cordero e-mail: cordero@insp.mx J. Rivera e-mail: jrivera@insp.mx D. Pineda Grupo Éxito, Medellín, Colombia e-mail: diana.pinedaruiz@grupo-exito.com L. González University of Antioquia, Medellín, Colombia e-mail: lgonzal97@gmail.com A. F. de Moraes : E. Costa de Oliveira Forkert School of Medicine, University of Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil A. F. de Moraes e-mail: augustocesar.demoraes@usp.br E. Costa de Oliveira Forkert e-mail: elsie@centerlink.com.br T. Collese Growth, Exercise, Nutrition and Development, University of Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain e-mail: tatiana.scollese@gmail.com D. Antiporta : J. J. Miranda Centro de Excelencia en Enfermedades Crónicas, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Lima, Peru D. Antiporta e-mail: daniel.antiporta.p@upch.pe J. J. Miranda e-mail: mirandajj@gmail.com Curr Obes Rep DOI 10.1007/s13679-014-0097-8