Sarah Maessen and colleagues argue that identifying successful policies and practices in countries with falls in early childhood overweight can help enhance efforts and reduce within country inequities
Nearly every country worldwide has experienced a steady rise in the prevalence of obesity across all age groups in recent decades.1 However, there has been recent optimism about an apparent plateau in prevalence of unhealthy weight among children in some high income countries, particularly among young children.2 A World Health Organization analysis of national surveys from 144 countries described notable increases in the prevalence of overweight and obesity among preschool children (under 5 years) from 1990 to 2010, and predicted an acceleration in prevalence from 2010 to 2020.3 WHO highlighted the preschool years as a potentially critical time in the life course for development of obesity and related metabolic disorders, with most preschool children with overweight or obesity continuin