Deputy Minister of Health Şuayıp Birinci: Healthy nutrition cannot be left to commercial expectations

Deputy Minister of Health Şuayıp Birinci stated at the Istanbul Science Summit 2026, organized in collaboration with the Sabri Ülker Food Research Institute Foundation and The Nutrition Society, that the culture of healthy nutrition is too vital an issue to be entrusted to the commercial expectations of the industry.

Citing data from the World Health Organization, Birinci stated that as of 2024, 150 million children under the age of 5 worldwide suffer from stunting, 43 million from wasting, and 35 million from being overweight. Stating that obesity is a global public health problem, Birinci announced that one in every 7 adults worldwide and one in every 5 people in Turkey are obese.

Noting that Turkey ranks 5th in overall obesity frequency among OECD countries and 4th among women, Birinci shared that the obesity rate in primary school-aged children, which is 9.9 percent, is projected to reach 33 percent by 2050. It was stated that 55 percent of individuals who are obese in childhood continue to experience this problem in adolescence, and 80 percent in adulthood.

Touching upon the effects of nutritional habits on health, Birinci emphasized that the risk of obesity is 26 percent for those who consume a can of sugary drinks every day, and that the use of High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) increases the frequency of diabetes. Furthermore, it was pointed out that the heavy consumption of ultra-processed foods increases the risk of death by 62 percent.