In an attempt to curb the public’s appetite and solve the nation’s obesity epidemic, certain public health officials are advocating regulating junk food as strictly as cigarettes.
Toni Yancey, a professor of health sciences at the UCLA School of Public Health, argues for significant limits on junk food, including eventual bans in the workplace. “We need to change social norms to make certain foods less appealing, just as we made it less appealing to smoke,” she tells the Los Angeles Times.
Tobacco policies, however, are not models for regulations against obesity since obesity is attributed to numerous complex biological and environmental factors including lack of exercise, genetics, metabolic and hormonal factors as well as socioeconomic and cultural cues.
A more comprehensive solution should be sought as recent figures show that 38 states have adult obesity rates above 25 percent. In 1991, no state had an obesity rate above 20 percent. “What happened in those 20 years?” asks ACSH's Dr. Elizabeth Whelan. “They had sugared sodas back then in plentiful supply as well as so-called junk food. The most obvious partial answer must be the advent of computers and a more sedentary lifestyle.”
“Portion sizes have also increased, but the difference between calories in and calories out has expanded — just like our waistlines,” adds ACSH's Dr. Gilbert Ross.