World Obesity Day 2026: improving understanding, prevention and treatment through EU funding

4 March is recognised as World Obesity Day, symbolising a global call to action to stress the need for improved understanding, prevention and treatment of obesity. 

Obesity represents an increasing public health concern, potentially leading to significant health risks including type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. In most cases, this chronic disease does not happen in isolation, as it can arise from the combination of multiple factors such as genetics, social or economic conditions, unhealthy eating habits or barriers to obtaining healthy foods.  

Several projects funded under the Horizon Europe ‘Health’ cluster are advancing the understanding, prevention and treatment of obesity through innovative research methodologies. 

BETTER4U aims to develop tailor-made and evidence-based weight loss interventions to address and reverse the increased obesity trend, ultimately seeking to help individuals achieve a healthier life and a longer life expectancy.  

Concretely, BETTER4U is conducting in-depth analyses to identify the determinants that contribute to obesity. The project will deliver an AI-powered intervention methodology for weight prevention, with input from pilot studies comprising seven European countries. This evidence will create obesity prevention guidelines that could help public health authorities, health practitioners and citizens to make healthier choices. 

eprObes focuses on preventing obesity by identifying factors occurring at early stages of life, from gestation and childhood to adolescence. The project adopts a holistic perspective, integrating clinical, cognitive, mental health and lifestyle research. It explores the complex early-life drivers of adult obesity, focusing on critical windows including the prenatal period, infancy, and adolescence. 

Importantly, the project acknowledges the gender-specific nature of obesity susceptibility — an aspect that is often overlooked in research and policy discussions. 

Through multidisciplinary collaboration, eprObes identifies underlying pathogenic mechanisms and key metabolic markers, leveraging bioinformatics and artificial intelligence to generate deeper, data-driven insights in obesity prevention. 

The BIO-STREAMS project is harnessing the power of health data to provide new insights, methodologies and tools to prevent childhood obesity. With the overall goal of establishing a scientific hub for obesity research, BIO-STREAMS is working to deliver the first EU childhood and adolescence obesity biobank, a repository of biological samples that can act as an EU-wide data-sharing centre for research and innovation on the matter.  

Related content 

• World Diabetes Day: Discover EU4Health projects working on diabetes prevention - European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA) 

Background 

Horizon Europe is the research and innovation programme of the EU for the period 2021-2027. The aims of Cluster 1 ‘Health’ include improving and protecting the health and well-being of citizens of all ages by generating new knowledge, developing innovative solutions and integrating where relevant a gender perspective to prevent, diagnose, monitor, treat and cure diseases.