Why We Need a Food Temperance Movement

INTRODUCTION -In the 19th Century, individual behavior, God's wrath, and/or belonging to vulnerable social or ethnic groups were believed the causes of illness and death. Yet the Sanitary Movement protected populations from infectious agents and toxins by instituting strict housing codes and regulations assuring cleaner air and water. Today, the environment is engineered to promote overeating due to the presence of ubiquitous food cues. Most people lack the capacity to protect themselves from these exposures, because significant proportions of our eating decisions are cued by contextual factors of which we are not aware. People need protection from exposure to foods that increase the risk of chronic diseases METHODS – This presentation is the result of a literature synthesis identifying how people make food-related choices and the implications for public policy. RESULTS – The evidence suggests that most people are incapable of ignoring contextual cues and have significant difficulty in resisting them. Primary sources of excess consumption include large portions and impulse marketing. Therefore, in order to protect people from diet-related chronic disease, regulations should be developed to mitigate factors that undermine individual goals and preferences for health. DISCUSSION –Regulations that target food environments, particularly food retail outlets like restaurants and supermarkets, are necessary. Even though there is ample evidence that people are influenced by superficial factors like placement and package design, in general, people lack insight and are handicapped in being able to resist excess calories. Bounded rationality and limited cognitive capacity requirement societal intervention to reduce chronic diseases.