I’m disappointed that he didn’t say more about the specific public health policies that have been proposed. Policies like taxing junk food, making cities more walkable, requiring menu calorie labeling, and cutting corn subsidies all seem like they could make our society a little healthier and thinner, on the margin, without much of a cost. Instead of engaging with the question of whether these sorts of policies were good ideas, he incorporated the public health questions into his overarching narrative of the obesity panic. (See: Missing the Trees for the Forest)
I’m disappointed that he didn’t say more about the specific public health policies that have been proposed. Policies like taxing junk food, making cities more walkable, requiring menu calorie labeling, and cutting corn subsidies all seem like they could make our society a little healthier and thinner, on the margin, without much of a cost. Instead of engaging with the question of whether these sorts of policies were good ideas, he incorporated the public health questions into his overarching narrative of the obesity panic. (See: Missing the Trees for the Forest)
Healthier, yes. Thinner, probably not.