Dr Catherine Conlon: Obesity crisis can be ended if we address its commercial roots 

Amid the many bad public health news stories, here's some good news: Ireland's Department of Health has signalled it is ready to challenge the global giants that promote unhealthy food 

There are hopeful signs in developed countries at least that the tide is turning in the global fight against obesity, but we must keep up momentum by developing a healthy food environment. Picture: iStock 

The first half of 2026 has been awash with bad news stories of private wealth over public health. Private care in public hospitals. Social media health harms. Alcohol labelling delayed for two years following intense lobbying from vested interests. Ongoing harms from tobacco consumption, vapes, and cannabis. In the last week, a report that Ireland is one of the biggest users of cocaine in Europe.

Hidden among all the negative headlines is a rare good news story that augurs hope for real change to happen over the next decade if the commercial determinants of obesity are challenged.

It seems that finally, the Department of Health may be just about to take up the cudgels to address this challenge at source.

At the recent launch of an ESRI report on perceptions of the causes of obesity, the Department of Health's chief medical officer (CMO) Professor Mary Horgan said that the upcoming Department of Health Obesity Policy Action Plan “will seek to transform the food environment… to address the social and commercial determinants of obesity.” 

The CMO has highlighted the reality — obesity rates are levelling off but until the commercial determinants of health are robustly challenged — high rates of obesity will continue to prevail.

These commercial determinants of health include the marketing and advertising, as well as the low cost and ubiquitous availability of unhealthy highly processed, hyper-palatable foods that directly influence both our eating habits and our health outcomes.

Trends in obesity rates globally 

New research published in Nature in May highlighted that while obesity rates are accelerating in low and middle- income countries, they have been flattening in most high-income countries and even show signs of declining in some countries, such as France, Italy and Portugal.

In France, adult obesity figures are 9.7%, with obesity defined as a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or higher. This is consistently one of the lowest in the EU, with Italy a close second at 10.4%. With political will and ambition, similar figures could be seen in Ireland, transforming health and wellbeing in an ageing population.

The CMO, Prof Mary Horgan, has highlighted the reality — that obesity rates are levelling off but until the commercial determinants of health are robustly challenged, high rates of obesity will continue to prevail.

The analysis tracked obesity prevalence as measured by body mass index (BMI) for over four decades from 1980 to 2024, drawing on a database of height and weight from 232 million participants in more than 4,000 population-based studies globally.

The researchers highlighted how obesity rates in low- and middle-income countries have not yet started to plateau due to the impact of rapid urbanisation with limited space for play or active travel, aligned with a shift away from traditional foods rich in wholegrains, vegetables and legumes towards energy dense processed foods high in refined cereals, added sugar, salt and saturated fat.

Soaring obesity rates in Ireland

Over the last four decades, obesity rates in Ireland have shifted from one of the lowest in Europe to one of the highest. From 1990 to 2011, obesity rates in Irish adults more than doubled from one in ten (11.5%) to almost one in four (23.7%) The latest figures for 2024 from Healthy Ireland show more than one in five adults (21%) continue to live with obesity.

The good news is that as obesity awareness has grown: Aligned with health promotion, nutrition education, and early intervention measures, obesity rates have flattened — at least in the wealthier demographics — in both adults and children.

The 2018 Sugar-Sweetened Drinks Tax led to a significant reduction in the consumption of sugary drinks that fell within the tax band.

The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) in 2021 led on an initiative to push the food industry to reduce sugar, salt, and fat in everyday processed foods. As reformulation is voluntary, progress has been slow although there has been some success, mainly in breakfast cereals and yogurts.

Targeted Community Initiatives, such as the Sláintecare Healthy Communities Programme support and educate families in socially disadvantaged areas on healthy eating.

The implementation of the HSE Model of Care for the Management of Overweight and Obesity (2021) has established structured systems to treat and manage obesity within the national healthcare framework.

Irish regulation falling behind other countries

While progress has been achieved in terms of education, health promotion and treatment; augmented by the recent addition of highly effective weight-loss drugs to the market; little progress has been made in terms of where the real problem lies — shifting the food market to ensure that healthy food is accessible, affordable and widely available.

At this point, Ireland is becoming an outlier in Europe and further afield in failing to address the food environment.

In October 2025, Norway took the bold step of being one of the first countries in Europe to ban the marketing of unhealthy foods and drinks to children.

The UK banned junk food ads on television and online in January. In September 2025, supermarkets there were banned from offering volume based price promotions, such as “buy one, get one free” and multi-buy meals on unhealthy foods including cakes, biscuits, crisps, sugary drinks, pizzas and ice cream. 

Also banned is the placement of foods high in fat, sugar and salt (HFSS) products at store entrances, aisle ends or checkouts while online they are banned from landing pages, payment sections, and side banners.

Colombia introduced a tax on unhealthy foods in February 2025. Early evidence suggests it is significantly improving population diets after just one year. Meanwhile Chile pioneered the introduction of black octagon warning labels to combat unhealthy diets in 2016, closely followed by Peru, Uruguay, Argentina, Colombia, and Venezuela.

Ireland needs more food industry regulation 

For too long, the Irish Government has refused to regulate a food industry machine that delivers and promotes vast quantities of food that is harming the health of generations of Irish citizens.

The really good news that obesity rates are levelling off and may even be falling has not got enough attention. The rollout of highly effective weight loss drugs will likely see this positive trend continue. But to make real progress, robust supports of a healthy food environment are needed.

The Government’s upcoming Obesity Policy and Action Plan needs to prioritise legislation that mandates for a healthier food market, including product reformulation; taxation to increase the price of unhealthy food; a ban on the online marketing of junk food; front of pack warning labels on unhealthy food; and restrictions on price promotions of foods high in fat, salt, and sugar.

If obesity rates are going to continue in a downward trajectory, we need to tackle the problem at source and that means taking robust steps to make healthy food accessible, affordable and widely available.

• Dr Catherine Conlon is a public health doctor in Cork and former director human health and nutrition, safefood