title: What is the public appetite for healthy eating policies? Evidence from a cross-European survey.
abstract: World Health Organization estimates that obesity accounts for 2-8% of health care costs in different parts of Europe, and highlights a key role for national policymaking in curbing the epidemic. A variety of healthy-eating policy instruments are available, ranging from more paternalistic policies to those less intrusive. Our aim is to measure and explain the level of public support for different types of healthy eating policy in Europe, based on data from a probabilistic sample of 3003 respondents in five European countries. We find that the main drivers of policy support are attitudinal factors, especially attribution of obesity to excessive availability of unhealthy foods, while socio-demographic characteristics and political preferences have little explanatory power. A high level of support for healthy eating policy does not translate into acceptance of higher taxes to fund them, however.
authors.affiliation: 1Associate Professor,Department of Statistical Sciences,University of Bologna,Bologna,Italy.
authors.forename: Mario
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mazzocchi
authors.affiliation: 2Assistant Professor,Department of Statistical Sciences,University of Bologna,Bologna,Italy.
authors.forename: Silvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cagnone
authors.affiliation: 3Associate Professor,Department of Business Administration,Aarhus University,Aarhus,Denmark.
authors.forename: Tino
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Bech-Larsen
authors.affiliation: 4Head of Department,Institute of Public Health,Jagiellonian University Medical College,Krakow,Poland.
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Niedźwiedzka
authors.affiliation: 5Senior Researcher,Istituto Nazionale di Ricerca per gli Alimenti e la Nutrizione,Rome,Italy.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Saba
authors.affiliation: 6Professor,Leverhulme Centre for Integrative Research on Agriculture and Health and School of Oriental and African Studies,London,UK.
authors.forename: Bhavani
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Shankar
authors.affiliation: 7Professor,Department of Agricultural Economics,Ghent University,Ghent,Belgium.
authors.forename: Wim
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Verbeke
authors.affiliation: 8Professor,Department of Food Economics and Marketing,University of Reading,Reading,UK.
authors.forename: W Bruce
authors.initials: WB
authors.lastname: Traill
mesh_terms: D001290:Attitude; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D005060:Europe; D005260:Female; D005509:Food Dispensers, Automatic / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D005515:Food Labeling / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D015438:Health Behavior; D006266:Health Education / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000379:methods; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D040541:Marketing / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D018673:Nutrition Policy / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D011050:Policy Making; D011057:Politics; D011639:Public Opinion; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013660:Taxes / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence