Martin Robyn
Centre for Research in Primary and Community Care, University of Hertfordshire, UK.
Aust New Zealand Health Policy. 2008 Oct 14;5:21. doi: 10.1186/1743-8462-5-21.
Obesity levels in England are significantly higher than in much of the rest of Europe. This article examines aspects of the physical and cultural context of food consumption in England, and the evolution of government policy on obesity, as a background to an analysis of how law might play a role in obesity prevention. Research suggests that individual food choices are associated with cultural and socio-economic circumstances and that they can be manipulated by advertising, food packaging and presentation. This suggests that there might be ways of using law to manage the influences on food choices, and of using law in support of strategies to redirect food choices towards healthy food products. Law is a particularly useful tool in the protection of the individual against the economic power of the food industry, and there is much that law can do to change the physical, economic and social environment of food consumption.
英国的肥胖水平显著高于欧洲其他大部分地区。本文审视了英国食物消费的物质和文化背景方面，以及政府肥胖政策的演变，作为分析法律如何在预防肥胖中发挥作用的背景。研究表明，个人的食物选择与文化和社会经济环境相关，并且会受到广告、食品包装和展示的影响。这表明或许有办法利用法律来管控对食物选择的影响，并利用法律来支持将食物选择转向健康食品的策略。法律是保护个人免受食品行业经济力量影响的一项特别有用的工具，而且法律在改变食物消费的物质、经济和社会环境方面大有可为。
