Fighting Obesity in the United States with State Legislation

Obesity is a problem of epidemic proportions in the U.S. There is a role for government involvement to reduce and prevent this public health problem of obesity. Strategies for obesity prevention are moving away from focusing on the individual alone and towards an ecological model to address environmental and societal influences on behavior. Obesity prevention efforts are taking place at national, state and local levels. Since individual states have fiscal and legislative authority and regulatory powers for public health policy, this project will focus at the state level. Various states have already implemented nutrition standards for school meals, taxes on foods of low nutritional standards, or require weight-related assessments for children and adolescents. Given the need to address ecological factors and the complexities of the policy making process, "Does state legislation reduce and prevent obesity at the state level? If not, why?"

The study's aims are to: (1) describe the landscape of obesity prevention legislation, including how legislation compares to research-based policy recommendations; (2) examine the association between obesity prevention legislation and obesity prevalence and other weight outcomes; (3) identify the process of how obesity prevention legislation are formulated and implemented, including factors that facilitate or hinder the process; and (4) suggest strategies to improve role of state legislation in preventing obesity.