As of 2012, more than 40 million children under the age of 5 were overweight or obese.
In 2008, more than 1.4 billion adults were overweight or obese.
Since 1980, the rates of worldwide obesity have almost doubled. In a recent letter published in The Lancet, Thiago Hérick de Sá, of the Department of Nutrition at the University of São Paulo’s School of Public Health in Brazil, says such sponsors “represent a direct attack” on worldwide efforts to reduce consumption of unhealthy food and drink in order to tackle increasing obesity rates. The soda company has partnered with the Olympics for even longer – since 1928 – and for the London 2012 Olympics, chocolate company Cadbury even jumped on the bandwagon as a sponsor. In fact, McDonald’s have been an official sponsor of the World Cup since 1994, while Coca-Cola have partnered with FIFA for the event since 1978. Share on Pinterest Fast-food and sugary drink sponsors of major sporting events, such as Coca-Cola and McDonald’s, “represent a direct attack” on worldwide efforts to reduce obesity, according to de Sá.
