Healthcare experts have warned that increasing food prices and growing poverty have had a direct effect on rising obesity among children in Turkey, the BBC Turkish service reported.
Sibel Sakarya, a doctor of epidemiology at Istanbul’s Koç University, said poverty influenced people’s food choices. “Nutritious food is much more expensive; therefore, people with a lower income are forced to choose cheaper foods that have higher sugar content but lack vitamins and minerals,” she said.
Sakarya added that many children did not have a balanced diet and had to skip essential meals such as breakfast due to poverty. Children who went to school on an empty stomach were more inclined to become obese because it meant they over-consumed when they did have access to food.
According to a 2022 report by the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), one out of five children skipped at least one meal in a week. Nearly 2 percent of students missed a meal every day.
A recent report by the Economic Policy Research Foundation of Turkey (TEPAV) revealed that nearly 10 million children are living in poverty across the country. The findings highlight that over 43 percent of those aged 0-14 are living in poverty.
A comparative study in 2024 by Mahir Polat, a Republican People’s Party (CHP) lawmaker, found that the cost of essential food items that would normally be in a school lunchbox had increased by at least 42 percent since 2023.
Other experts said that in addition to rising food prices, children were less active due to the increase in smartphone use, which made them more attached to the screen and less inclined to move around. Moreover, children had easy access to unhealthy snacks and fast food options.
Experts were also concerned with the lack of social awareness on the causes of obesity and its negative impact on children’s development. Dilek Yazıcı, a doctor of endocrinology and chair of the Turkish Association for the Study of Obesity, said parents often mistook obesity for “baby fat” that could easily be shed as the child grew.
The biggest study on childhood obesity conducted by the Turkish Ministry of Health in 2016 found that 10 percent of children were obese, while 25 percent were overweight.
Yazıcı said unhealthy eating habits that were picked up during childhood would most likely continue through a person’s lifetime and could result in life-long illnesses such as diabetes and heart disease. She asked that the government develop policies to raise awareness of healthy eating and good nutrition.
Currently in Turkey, food packages do not have a nutrition score, which is a widespread practice in European countries. Furthermore, it is difficult for the average citizen to understand labeling and the exact content of a food item. Public health experts are now demanding easier to read labeling and clear scoring on packages as a first step to countering obesity.
