A review of population-level actions targeting reductions in food portion sizes to address obesity and related non-communicable diseases

Poor diet is one of the leading contributors to the burden of disease globally. Reducing the portion size of commonly purchased food and beverages has been identified as a promising approach for reducing obesity and related non-communicable diseases across populations. To date, there have been few population-level interventions developed with the aim of addressing portion size. Of those that have been developed, the majority have been at the discretion of food manufacturers to implement, and there is very little evidence to indicate that these interventions have resulted in any meaningful changes. There is nevertheless substantial opportunity for future public health actions targeting portion size, including government-led targets for portion size reduction in key food categories; portion size caps on unhealthy foods in selected settings, such as schools and hospitals; the standardization of declared portion sizes across food categories; and restrictions on the use of price incentives that encourage purchase of larger portion sizes.