Public Policy and Environmental Supports for Healthy Eating

Abstract

The epidemic of obesity with its consequent comorbidities such as diabetes, hypertension, and Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is still on a rising trend in the country and the world. CVD is still the main cause of death in the United States (http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/adult/html) and in the world (http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs310/en/) [4, 12]. The two main factors responsible for CVD are diet and exercise. An unhealthy high-calorie diet and lack of exercise have been considered the cause of obesity, which is a risk factor for CVD. For years, these two factors have been recognized and appropriately battled to revert the trend of obesity, CVD, and other chronic diseases. However, it seems that those current strategies are not sufficient to deter the epidemic. There is a need for more changes in the community and in the society, changes that support and enable people, adults and children, to perform the behaviors of eating healthy and exercising. Diet and exercise are still the culprits, but there is a need for policies and supporting activities in the community to counteract these chronic diseases that are killing Americans and humans everywhere.

This chapter will cover mostly what has been done regarding policies and activities to promote and support healthy eating behaviors. We will consider schools and what is happening with promoting healthy foods in the cafeteria as well as changing the culture and providing more opportunities to eat healthy in this environment. We will propose new strategies and expose what has been done in the country with policies to support healthy eating behaviors. There is a trend in the society for healthy eating. People are concerned about how to purchase more fruits and vegetables, in which sometimes the price is a deterrent. In this chapter, we will see what options can provide more fruits and vegetables that are affordable in low-income communities, in greater part, the most affected by the epidemic of obesity.

This is a chapter that evaluates the current activities that support healthy eating behaviors, but more than that, we want to propose what else can be done and what other strategies are there that could be developed to support, promote, and make healthy food available and affordable to everyone in the country. This is our goal, this is the solution, and this is the prescription to counteract the epidemic.

The national Healthy People 2020 Nutrition and Weight Status objectives are to reduce the proportion of children and adolescents aged 2–9 who are considered obese from 16.1 to 1.6 %. The goal is to promote health and reduce chronic disease risk through the consumption of healthful diets and to promote health for all through a healthy environment.