Strategies for Promoting Healthier Food Choices

Between 1960 and 2004, the proportion of Americans meeting standard criteria for obesity increased from 13 percent to 31 percent (Katherine M. Flegal et al. 2002), and it has been proposed that, if this trend is not reversed, obesity may soon overtake smoking as the leading preventable cause of death (Ali H. Mokdad et al. 2004). Consequently, obesity is now one of the major causes of rising health care costs (Eric A. Finkelstein, Christopher J. Ruhm, and Katherine M. Kosa 2005). Empirical analyses suggest that an increase in caloric intake, rather than a change in calorie expenditure, is responsible for much of the trend (David M. Cutler, Edward L. Glaeser, and Jesse M. Shapiro 2003). The main policy response to what is often referred to as the “obesity epidemic” has been to enhance access to information. The most prominent example of such a policy is the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act (United States Food and Drug Administration 1994), but, recently, the tactic has been receiving more attention after New York City required restaurants with 15 or more outlets to post the caloric content of each food item next to its price on menu boards. Lawmakers and independent companies alike are now following New York City’s lead (Kim Severson 2008). However, there is little evidence that information alone does much to improve diet (Jayachandran N. Variyam and AQ 1 The Psychology of food consumPTion †