Pushing forward to only ever healthy body weight in children and adolescents: the Swiss paradox

The economic future of a country depends largely on the vitality of its new generations: they need to be healthy enough to lead. However, facts and high prevalence of obesity epidemic demonstrate that the individual choice approach towards adequate nutritional behaviour and exercise is not working, and governments around the globe are stepping into halt and hopefully reverse the trend towards a future without childhood overweight. Figuring out how best to proceed is an issue that has been raised also in Switzerland, a country known for its excellent living conditions and healthy environment, and measures are being actively implemented by cantons, addressing healthier lifestyles. However, solving the obesity epidemic requires implementation of a comprehensive program that, beyond cantonal and local endeavours, could use heavier legislative and regulatory authority from the Swiss government to ensure that there are no gaps left in the development, test and propagation of national policies concerning schools curricula, food labelling and prices. Nevertheless, encouraging signs are coming from scientific reports supporting the levelling off of overweight and obesity rates in children and adolescents from around the world, including Switzerland. There is optimism about the future, but also certainty about the critical role that advocacy, by all involved parts, plays to maintain high standards in goals to achieve, and shared responsibility to prevent conflict of interests among governments, industry and consumers