The "In Shape" program, prepared by Health Minister Ulla Schmidt in cooperation with Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection Minister Horst Seehofer, aims to cut disease related to obesity noticeably by 2020. The national level program will aim to achieve the target by educating the youth on healthy eating and sports, as well as tougher standards for school lunches.
It also includes tougher measures for the sweets industry to stop targeting advertising at children under 12, and for clothing companies to stop using models that do not look healthy or well-fed.
The computer games industry will also be encouraged to create games that require greater movement among players and avoid sedentary ones.
Other proposed measures include better labeling of foods and motivating people to exercise more.
According to government statistics, some two-thirds of all German men between the ages of 18 and 80 are overweight and around half of all women. Nearly 1.4 million young Germans show symptoms of an eating disorder.
