Food Legislation as an Effective Way to Protect Public Health - Essay Example

?Food Legislation is an Effective Way to Prevent Child Obesity Introduction Food intake has become a key determinant of people’s health. The kinds offood we take to a large extent decide the nature of different ailments and disorders one suffers. While health is an individual concern public health can only be tackled at the broad level and through administrative measures. The intake of food therefore needs to be controlled. Now, while this can be regulated at the personal level, certain external stimuli can only be monitored and restrained through proper and suitable legislation. Food legislation comprise of the set of laws, which rein the processes of production, processing and retailing the food products. Childhood obesity is growing concern amongst the other public health issues. Research shows that obesity is responsible for several other ailments and disorders such as diabetes, cardio vascular diseases and heart attacks. Hence controlling obesity from the very early years is an important thing to be ensured by the government of a nation. Obesity is spreading fast as a symptom of health crisis. It is a significant problem for mostly the developed nations but the developing countries are also catching up. Three of the G20 countries have an obesity rate above 30 percent. These are United States with 46.5 percent of its inhabitants suffering form obesity, Argentina with 37.6 percent and Mexico with 35.5 percent. Across the world above one billion adult populace are obese and the obesity rates have risen three fold or beyond in areas of North America, East Europe and the Middle East mainly due to lack of proper nutrients and reduced level of physical activities. Seven among the G20 nations have obesity rates lying above 25 percent. These comprise Saudi Arabia (29.7 %), “Australia (28.8 %), Canada (25.6%) and the United Kingdom (25%)” (The Globalist, 2010) In 2008, the BMI benchmarks were reviewed in England and following this revision, obesity amongst 2-15 years old children increased from 11 to 17 percent for boys and from 12 to 15 percent amongst girls (19). The 5-DAY program in UK has been proven to be an effective preventative way of improving both diet and nutrition amongst the population. Amongst those who follow this 5-DAY program, women (29 percent) comprised a greater share than men (25 percent). The survey also revealed that consumption increased in proportion to age. The group taken between 16 to 24 years of age comprised of 18 percent men and 21 percent women consuming the 5 portions intake of fruits and vegetables while the percentage for men and women are 32 and 36 percent respectively for the age group ranging from 55 to 64 years. Considering children aged between 5 to 15 years, one in five boys and girls were able to meet the government’s prescribed goal for consumption of a minimum of five serving size of fruits and vegetables. Fresh fruits were more commonly taken in these portions. The consumption of fruits was observed to decrease with increase in age (Craig, Mindell and Hirani, 2008, p.19). Now, obesity, especially in children is a problem, which needs to be controlled solely through a proper diet. Inclination towards fast food at the individual and the family level has mostly resulted in this problem. Often it has been observed that obesity, which develops in the childhood, tends to continue throughout life unless the eating habit and monitored at this stage. This makes childhood obesity an issue to be dealt with the help of regulation on food covering various aspects. Childhood obesity Over the past 30 years, the occurrence of plump children is identified as those having a body mass index (BMI) more than the 85th percentile for age and gender have tripled. Above 30 per cent of toddlers in the United States are plump or obese (BMI > 95th percentile). Childhood plumpness results from a malfunction of the body’s self-dictatorial system to adapt to environmental controls characteristic of the person’s genetic backdrop. Various aspects in the process of the multifaceted genetic-environment communications that cause plumpness will support long-term positive energy equilibrium. Consequences from longitudinal studies propose that a modest constant energy disparity, which is hard to detect by current techniques of measuring energy ingestion and expenditure, is probably the eventual cause of obesity (Chaput and Tremblay, 2006, p.1). Obese toddlers are exposed to weight stigma and may be susceptible to psychological consequences, such as dejection, and social consequences, such as remoteness. Consequences of bias, such as separation or social removal, could donate to the exacerbation of plumpness through psychosomatic vulnerabilities that augment the likelihood of over-consumption and inactive activity. It is clear that prejudice, unfairness and discrimination are element of everyday life for these plump children (Chaput and Tremblay, 2006, p.1). The adult plumpness is the long term effect of childhood plumpness. There appears little doubt that there are plumper and obese toddlers and adults today than there were in the 1970s and the 1980s. Present data from the annual Health Survey for England 2003, issued by the Department of Health on December 14, 2004, propose that it is time for an equivalent re-think in this nation. While it is routinely demanded that there has been a ‘quick acceleration’ of plumpness in children since the 1990s, official survey data do not bear this out (Chaput and Tremblay, 2006, p. 2). Labelling In the above scenario, it is important to consider the aspect of food intake at large. Decisions in purchasing food items depend a lot on labelling. The Food and Drug Administration has taken this up as a key concern. In European Commision the current legislation states that nutrition labelling is not mandatory unless claimed and in the latter case it is compulsory (Goggi, 2003). The Food companies are put on trial for their role in the growing obesity across the world. The suspicion is that the food items are labelled to be of low fat content and this on one hand persuades the people towards in take of these snacks based food (due to lowered consumpton guilt). In fact such low fat labells might lead to excessive consumption of food which are poor in nutrient and rich in calorie. In fact around 65 percent of the US consumers who are already overweight consume these snacks food rich in calorie. However labelling is basically in the interest of the firms to encourage the consumers purchase their products. Certain food items like candies and snacks are responsible for single-occasion overconsumption. This lead to weight gain and also fast satiation. If the ocmpanies can help the consumers to improv ethie rhabits of consumption this will bring down the possibilities of adverse regulations and strikes. Also this will promote a nobel approach towards the brand and the firm. The approach is referred as the “win-win” policy based solution for both sides of the tranaction (companies and consumers). An extensive study has proven that low fat labelling leads to overconsumption by the overweight people irrespective of judging whether the item is of utilitarian value (granola) or hedonic (e.g. chocolates). When an individual determines his or her amount of intake of food, labels become a strong hint for objective and subjective consumption. The subjective hints comprise of nutrition claims which do not mention any particular serving size. This would influence on the amount of intake for a consumer and also the nature of emotions one can expect while consuming a particular food item. The following illustration shows effectively how the labelling can influence consumption: How Low Fat Claims Influence Consumption (Wansink, & Chandon 2006, p.606) The hedonic choices of food are more likely to attract the children. Now, such food also arouse greater amount of guilt compared to utilitarian food items. The sense of guilt leads people to eat low fat food items especially when two food items (one of high fat content and low fat content). But when the items are present alone they will choose the high fat content food. Again, another way of reducing the biased decisions towards food items could be effected by provision of objective serving sizes on the package. However these specifications finally help normal to overweight people in consuming proper amount of nutrition. Now, coming to the case of labeling in restaurants, studies showed that children especially teenagers might not bother to read the calories mentioned in the menu cards beside each food item. Again if one were addicted to a particular junk food item, he or she would not even care about the calories labeled beside the item on the menu chart (Hartman, 2011). Junk food in schools Recently legislation is going to be introduced by the Obama Administration to fight childhood obesity. According to this law French fries, Pepsi and Snickers will be expelled from the public schools. Candies and sugar beverages are going to be forbidden such in a way, which will urge the schools to offer nutritious fare. However the schools on banning the sweets will be required to pay for more nutritious food content, which would put pressure on their budget. Although the administration has suggested a spending of $1 billion extra this might not be enough to cover the budget. Debates regarding the decisions of food and nutrition to lie totally in the domain of the school’s authority have also come up and children are not quite content with the viewpoint. The National School Lunch Program was initiated to serve above 100000 schools and more than 31 million children in 1946 but the program has finally led the children towards intake of wrong and unhealthy food items (Harris, 2010). Around one third of America’s children are overweight or obese. Despite banning of junk food from the official menu of breakfast and lunch, certain sweets and fatty foods are provided from outside. Vending machines supplying soda with candy are used and the money that is raised form there is spent on school events. The new law would compel all the schools to follow the guidelines strictly. In fact recent researchers suggest that the changes, which have already taken place in the food programs of schools, have helped control obesity amongst children. The Senate Bill 12 passed in California in 2005 has already stipulated standards for the food sold across California in the public schools. The standards, which came into effect from July 2007, aimed at doing away with the non-nutritious competitive food items to be sold in K-12. The beverages sold in the public schools of California had to abide by the Senate Bill 965 standards by July 2009. These standards apply only half an hour after school time. The SB 12 standards refer to those food items which at the elementary school level must meet the following standards: a maximum of 35 percent total calories form fat, 10 percent from saturated fat, 35 percent weight form sugar and 175 calories for every specific food item. Food items like “non-fried fruits/vegetables, nuts, nut butters, seeds, eggs, and string cheese” are permitted all the time. (School Food Laws – California, 2011) However some instances reveal that legislation might not really alter food habits for children as some of them declared that they would bring candies from home or buy it from candy carts. The new legislation will not really disappoint the Pepsi and Coke companies because they will now shift to bottled juice instead of the soft drinks. Schools like Orange County High School has vending machines and Betty Almond’s cart full of candies in order to compensate the students. There are mixed opinions on this though. Sometimes children might complain initially but get used to the practice with time. Imposing taxes In an effort to reduce instances of obesity amongst children, a policy of taxation on unhealthy food items and beverages containing sweet has raised several controversies. Authors have opined that this will affect the low-income population but again, obesity is a problem more common amongst this section. Brownell suggests that although personal caution should always be exercised to lead healthy lives, the role, played by government regulations and policies cannot be overruled (Oren, 2010). A common proposal for taxation has been a charge of a penny per ounce tax on sweetened drinks and the revenues to be used for contributing towards obesity control programs. Certain states are already taking initiatives to put forth “sin taxes” on fat and sugar contained food items in order to discourage people form junk food consumption. Some people prefer subsidies to be granted in order to encourage fresh fruits and vegetables along with whole grains instead of taxing. However in this context some theories like behavioral economics reveal that consumers need not always be rational and a laboratory research was carried out to reveal the impacts of tax and subsidies that is pricing strategies. In a grocery store first the mothers were allowed to shop at regular prices and then the prices of unhealthy food were increased (by 12.5 percent and later by 25 percent) while that of healthy food items were decreased. The unhealthy food items were defined by calorie-for-nutrition (CFN) value not fat food will have low CFN and high fat contained food like cookies will have high CFN. Taxes were found to be more effective in lowering the fat content amongst the purchased items. Subsidies rather increased the calories purchased and no change in nutritional value was achieved on the positive side. (Science Daily, 2010) Banning junk food ads on TV Advertisements on television related to junk food items might have an adverse impact on eating habits of children. Consumer advocacy units have been proposing ban on junk food related ads on TV between 6 am to 9 pm, that is the time when children are mostly found to watch the television. All ads concerning food items with high fat, sugar and salt content will be banned during these hours. A ban has also been proposed on use of celebrities and cartoons along with free offers for specific food items. This is because children are more attracted to celebrities and cartoon figures and hence will be more than likely to watch these advertisements. Research shows that around 15 commercials in one hour were broadcast concerning fast food places, chocolates and other fast food items. These were shown mainly during the afternoon and early evening when children are more likely to watch the TV. After monitoring the TV channels Seven, Nine and Ten from 6am to 9pm it was found that “Seven had two high fat, sugar and salt (HFSS) ads per hour, Ten more than three and Nine three ads per hour for the total time viewed” (Frith, 2008). Again, findings revealed, “Between 6pm and 7pm on Ten, when the programs broadcast were Friends followed by Neighbours, there were 15 junk food commercials, including five for KFC, and two each for Hungry Jacks, McDonald's, and Domino's Pizza” (Frith, 2008). In Australia, one out of four children suffer from excess weight problems and this number is expected to rise to 60 percent over next 30 years. In fact in 2007, UK has imposed a ban on junk food advertisements during the programs which comprised of children under 10 years of age as audience. This ban has been extended to 16 years now. However the Australian Association of National Advertisers find a feeble conenction between junk food ads and consumption of the same by children. According to some experts and critics, “A ban on advertising forces companies to depend more on price competition and price cutting is likely to increase consumption” (Frith, 2008). In fact the quality of prime time programs will also be reduced as the advertisers will now pull out funds from there. Some parents however feel that a law could be of great help especially when even a program like sports events will comprise of fast food ads. Even if a parent never takes the initiative of taking his or her children to McDonalds, the latter will always know about the same. Conclusion The above discussion shows that legislation can bring about some effective measures towards a healthy diet and therefore control childhood obesity apart from personal efforts. In fact, zoning laws have also helped in restraining the number and density of fast food outlets. Soning regulations are in fact constitutional. Different types of zoning legislations have been udnertaken by the municipalities as per requirements. For instance McDonald has been denied the permit to build a drive-in resturant in the Village of Elmsford of Westchester County in the case of McDonald’s Corporation v Board of Trustees. The zoning law prescribed that a restaurant could be only located at a minimum of 2000 feet distance from an existing drive-in in the village (Mair, Pierce and Teret, 2005, p.8). Thus regulations related to city planning and the other aspects of unhealthy food consumption can work in unison to support individual and parental efforts in controlling children’s obesity. References 1. The Globalist (2010), The Obesity Epidemic, The Times of India, available at: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/quiz/The-obesity-epidemic/articleshow/6644787.cms (accessed on March 6, 2011) 2. Chaput, J-P., Tremblay, A. (Feb. 16, 2006). “Obesity at an Early age and Its Impact on Child Development” Encyclopedia on Early Childhood and Development. Available at: http://www.enfant-encyclopedie.com/Pages/PDF/Chaput-TremblayANGxp.pdf (Accessed on Aug. 28, 2009). 3. Harris, G. (2010), A Federal Effort to Push Junk Food Out of Schools, New York Times, available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/08/health/nutrition/08junk.html?_r=1 (accessed on March 9, 2011) 4. Oren, R. (2010), Health Affairs, Press Release. Available at: www.healthaffairs.org (accessed on March 9, 2011) 5. Mair, J.S., Pierce, M.W. & S.R. Teret, (2005), THE CITY PLANNER’S GUIDE TO THE OBESITY EPIDEMIC: ZONING AND FAST FOOD, The Center for Law and the Public’s Health 6. Department of Health, (2009), 2009 Annual Report of the Chief Medical Officer 7. Goggi, P. (2003), EUROPEAN COMMISSION: HEALTH & CONSUMER PROTECTION DIRECTORATE-GENERAL 8. Craig, R., Mindell, J. & V. Hirani, (2008) Health Survey for England, National Centre for Social Research 9. School Food Laws – California (2011), No Junk Food, available at: http://nojunkfood.org/?page_id=32 (accessed on March 9, 2011) 10. Hartman, P. (2011), Calorie Labeling in Restaurants, available at: http://childhoodobesitynews.com/2011/01/19/calorie-labeling-in-restaurants/ (accessed on March 9, 2011) 11. Science Daily (2011), Taxing Unhealthy Foods May Encourage Healthier Eating Habits, Science News, available at: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100224142046.htm (accessed on March 9, 2011) 12. Frith, M. (2008), Call for junk food ad ban, The Sydney Morning Herald, available at: http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/calls-to-ban-junk-food-ads-on-tv/2008/03/15/1205472157887.html (accessed on March 9, 2011) 13. Wansink, B. & P. Chandon (2006), Can “Low-Fat” Nutrition Labels Lead to Obesity?, Journal of Marketing Research, XLIII, 605-617 . Read More