Abstract
Nowadays, overweight and obesity in developed countries are increasing even in developped countries. In this study, I compared two strategies for obesity prevention in schools between developed countries , France, and a developped country, India. Indeed India which started its nutritional transition, knows an increase in the cases of infantile overweights and obesity. Many researchs on the determinants of obesity clarifies today its multifactorial nature. To the genetic track which was privileged before, many other explanatory assumptions are added highlighting factors psychological, social, economic, epigenetic, biological, food, dependent to the rhythm of life (non exhaustive enumeration). The plurality of these risk factors shows that obesity is a phenomenon which can be qualified of complex. To understand this complexity, I referred to the « method » suggested by Edgar Morin (1990) to conceptualize and analyze complexity through several guiding principles. These principles make it possible to direct the reasoning between complex thought and simplifying thought. I applied them to the analysis of the nutritional strategies in school. My results reveal on the one hand that the paradigm of complexity lead the teachers to develop a nutritional strategy adapted to the complex nature of obesity. In addition, the stigmatization of obesity, which is necessary to start a real awakening of the interest of the total prevention, must be limited not to become against-productive. These results open many prospects to improve the nutritional strategy in each studied context (french and indian), in the field of research and in the field of teacher training.