Innovative Legal Approaches to Address Obesity

Abstract

Context:The law is a powerful public health tool with considerable potential to address the obesity issue. Scientific advances, gaps in the current regulatory environment, and new ways of conceptualizing rights and responsibilities offer a foundation for legal innovation. Methods:This article connects developments in public health and nutrition with legal advances to define promising avenues for preventing obesity through the application of the law.Findings: Two sets of approaches are defined: (1) direct application of the law to factors known to contribute to obesity and (2) original and innovative legal solutions that address the weak regulatory stance of government and the ineffectiveness of existing policies used to control obesity. Specific legal strategies are discussed for limiting children's food marketing, confronting the potential addictive properties of food, compelling industry speech, increasing government speech, regulating conduct, using tort litigation, applying nuisance law as a litigation strategy, and considering performance-based regulation as an alternative to typical regulatory actions. Finally, preemption is an overriding issue and can play both a facilitative and a hindering role in obesity policy. Conclusions:Legal solutions are immediately available to the government to address obesity and should be considered at the federal, state, and local levels. New and innovative legal solutions represent opportunities to take the law in creative directions and to link legal, nutrition, and public health communities in constructive ways.

Counter-Advertising May Reduce Parent's Susceptibility to Front-of-Package Promotions on Unhealthy Foods

“…In France, advertisements for processed, sweetened, or salted food and drinks are required to carry cautions urging people to stop snacking and to exercise and eat more fruits and vegetables. 20 New York City Health Department's Pouring on the Pounds counter-advertising campaign graphically highlights the sugar content in soda and the potential of sugar-sweetened beverages to contribute to weight gain. 21 This campaign was also adapted for transit advertising in San Francisco, CA.…”

A Point-of-Purchase Intervention Featuring In-Person Supermarket Education Affects Healthful Food Purchases

“…1–2 The ubiquity of inexpensive, palatable, energy-dense food is considered a primary contributor to the obesity epidemic, and a number of obesity-reducing modifications to the obesity-promoting environment have been proposed. 3–7 Interventions aimed at promoting healthier food purchasing patterns represent a promising approach to reducing obesity, but have been relatively understudied. The current pilot study was aimed at determining the feasibility and efficacy of a novel point-of-purchase food shopping intervention in a socioeconomically diverse community.…”

Taxing Junk Food to Counter Obesity

“…Another approach might be to tax unhealthy foods according to composition; for instance, any food composed of more than 30% fat or 40% sugar. 1 In theory, both methods would target a wide variety of problem foods and food distributors. Similarly, an ingredient tax (e.g., on high-fructose corn syrup) could encourage manufacturers to use fewer unhealthy additives and produce healthier, tax-exempt products.…”

“…1 The divergence between energy intake and expenditure has widened since 1970, 2 with a steady increase in daily calorie intake leading scientists and researchers to suggest targeting food consumption as a means of addressing the obesity epidemic. One such approach is now gaining momentum while generating heated debates in and outside the scientific community: a tax on unhealthy foods has been proposed to help reduce their consumption.…”