Obesity Policy Strategies

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The obesity epidemic is rapidly advancing in the U.S., leading to physical and mental health problems as well as having financial impacts. Although there are existing federal programs and policies that address the obesity problem, these policies do not seem to account for the urgency of the current situation. It is essential to examine new policy strategies to combat the growing threat of obesity. Policy strategies explored in this paper include implementation of federal subsidization of healthy meals and taxation on fast food.
• The prevalence of obesity among U.S. adults has increased dramatically in the recent years. The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey found that nearly 30 percent of U.S. adults are obese and …show more content…
Thus, the availability of inexpensive foods that are high in sugar and fat and the unavailability of healthy food choices contribute to the obesity issue (French, Story, & Jeffery, 2001).
• Obesity contributes to serious health illnesses and mortality. About 300,000 deaths annually in the U.S. are attributable to obesity-related factors (Allison et al., 1999).
• Adverse effects of obesity are not only medical. The U.S. spends about $190.2 billion annually on obesity-related illnesses, making up about 21 percent of annual medical expenses (Cawley and Meyerhoefer, 2012). Economic costs also include the costs spent on weight loss-products and services and is nearly $33 billion (National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, hghg).
• This paper calls the U.S. government to implement policy interventions targeting the manipulation of either the availability of or the price of healthier food to promote their …show more content…
A review done by Andreveya et al. (2010) has shown that food prices significantly influence what people decide to purchase. Furthermore, the availability of inexpensive and unhealthy food and the unavailability of healthy food choices contribute to the obesity epidemic (Koplan and Dietz, 1999). Lastly, a systematic review on food taxes and subsidies has shown that interventions targeting the manipulation of either the availability of or the price of healthier food have shown to be effective in promoting their consumption (Thow, Downs, &
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