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Obesity and Consumer Choice

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Encyclopedia of Food and Agricultural Ethics
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Synonyms

Consumer freedom, Free choice, Public health and obesity

Introduction

Obesity presents a major set of issues relating to health and society. These issues arise at local, national, and international levels, effecting individuals, families, communities, health infrastructure, and on some accounts, even the global climate (Egger and Swinburn 2010). Given the individual and collective costs of obesity, many (Egger and Swinburn 2010) are calling for an organized response to the problem. While there are a number of different ways of responding to obesity, one particularly important and contentious set of responses centers on consumer choice, particularly their food choices. That is, given consumption’s causal role in obesity, consumer food choices present a key intervention point to reduce obesity levels. This entry looks at discussions around, in support of and in opposition to, consumer choice as a morally justifiable and practically worthwhile way of reducing obesity.

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Correspondence to Adam Henschke .

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© 2014 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

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Henschke, A. (2014). Obesity and Consumer Choice. In: Thompson, P., Kaplan, D. (eds) Encyclopedia of Food and Agricultural Ethics. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6167-4_129-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6167-4_129-4

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