Promoting Healthy Eating

AROUND THE WORLD, many countries are facing an obesity epidemic. In the U.S. alone, obesity rates have more than doubled in the past two decades, to a prevalence rate greater than 20 per cent; and the Canadian rate is virtually the same. Although obesity is a multifaceted disease, increased consumption of unhealthy food and beverages is a major driver.

Experts contend that large-scale interventions are required to dissuade people from eating unhealthy food — particularly in restaurant settings, where we are consuming an increasing proportion of our calories: Food eaten outside of the home accounted for 34 per cent of the food budget in 1970. By the late 1990s, that number had increased to 47 per cent, and it is still growing. As a result, experts have proposed initiatives to address unhealthy choices in restaurants.

Some government policies have already attempted to eliminate unhealthy choices by banning unhealthy ingredients such as trans fats and sugary beverages; others have focused on gentler nudges to improve individual