Pau Gasol, NBA player, and María Luisa Carcedo, acting Minister for Health, have presented a preview of the study ‘PASOS’, carried out by the Gasol Foundation, which warns that 35% of children aged 8 to 16 are overweight or obese. Pedro Emilio Alcaraz, director of the Research Centre on High Performance Sport of the UCAM, who attended the presentation, said that “this project will be a national and even international benchmark in the coming years, since an accurate picture is being taken of the habits and lifestyles of this Spanish population with a very representative sample of it (more than 4000 participants”.

“We are very happy to participate in this project led by the Gasol Foundation because we think that overweight and childhood obesity is a problem we must address as soon as possible in our society. The Gasol brothers, after consulting with the best world experts, have decided to focus all the efforts of their foundation on this issue due to the magnitude of the problem for children in the long term”, the researcher Pedro Emilio Alcaraz added.

During the presentation, Pau Gasol said that “childhood obesity is a global problem that affects Spain, so we are facing a very complex battle that requires the effort of all sectors”. María Luisa Carcedo pointed out that “obesity is a well-known public health problem, a worrying problem that has increased in recent years in both developed and developing countries”.