Australians support for policy initiatives addressing unhealthy diet: a population-based study

To inform public health policy implementation in Australia, our study investigated the level of public support for six policy initiatives addressing unhealthy diet. The policy initiatives included taxing soft drinks and energy drinks, taxing less healthy food and beverage purchases, zoning to restrict the supply of junk foods near schools, prohibiting advertising and promotion of less healthy food and beverages to children under the age of 16 and restricting sugar-sweetened beverages from vending machines in schools, and public places. Data from a cross-sectional population-based study for 4040 Australians aged 15+ years, were analysed. A high overall support across all policy initiatives was observed. Nearly three-quarter of public support was observed for policy initiatives targeting children (zoning to restrict the supply of junk food near schools, prohibiting advertising and promotion of less healthy food and beverages to children under the age of 16 and restricting sugars-sweetened beverages from vending machines in schools), and half of Australians supported policy initiatives of taxing soft drinks and energy drinks and taxing less healthy food and beverage purchases. Australian women and those with tertiary level of education were more likely to support public health initiatives targeting children and all policy initiatives respectively. Interestingly, young adults expressed low level of support for all policy initiatives. The study demonstrated considerable public support for policy initiatives focussed on protecting children from unhealthy diet in Australia. Framing, designing and implementing policies targeting children is potentially a good starting point for policymakers to create a health promoting food environment. Public health policy initiatives addressing unhealthy diet is implemented in many countries with promising results. In Australia, no national-level data are currently available on the public's opinions towards policy-level strategies addressing unhealthy diet, and whether public opinion varies by demographic characteristics, as seen in other countries. Our findings suggest that framing policies in ways that are focussed on protecting children from unhealthy diet are more likely to gather greater support. Overall, public health advocates and policymakers should emphasise on benefits of implementing population-level initiatives in future advocacy efforts to increase public acceptability for policies to address unhealthy diet.

Automated summary

To understand public support for public health policy implementation in Australia, a study was conducted to investigate the level of support for six policy initiatives addressing unhealthy diet. High overall support was observed, particularly for policy initiatives targeting children. Women and those with higher education were more likely to support public health initiatives. Young adults expressed low level of support. The study highlights the importance of framing policies to protect children from unhealthy diet, and emphasizes the need for advocacy efforts to increase public acceptability for policies to address unhealthy diet.