Fueled by our anger toward the new calorie law, we take on society’s obsession with finding the optimal path to health. In our rant about the reductionism, ignorance, and neoliberalism of the new legislation, we find ourselves lost for answers when it comes to the efficient communication and promotion of health to a diverse public. Are individualistic public health campaigns effective without systemic change? Is the democratisation of health education through social media really a good thing? And what the hell is health to begin with?

References: 

Government website and numbers on obesity

Great opinion piece on the issue

Statistics on eating disorders in the UK

Review of all existing studies looking at menu labelling in the medical literature proving the ineffectiveness of calorie labeling in the US

Researchers comment on new calorie labelling regulations in England