Think About Calories

When Michelle Obama was First Lady of the United States, she tried to solve the problem of childhood obesity within a generation. There was a short-term decline in the number of children, aged 2–5 years, who were obese, although this was not found in older age groups. Any decline was, however, short-lived. The rate of obesity when the programme started was 12.1% in those between 2 and 5 years, but 8 years later it had risen to 13.4%. Another ambitious initiative was to persuade 16 major food and drink companies to remove one trillion calories from the American diet by 2012 and 1.5 trillion calories by 2015. In the even, by 2012, 6.4 trillion calories had been removed, 3 years ahead of schedule. Although more calories had been removed than many thought possible, it amounted to only 78 calories per American each day and has not prevented further increases in obesity.