With the obesity epidemic rising in Canada, researchers are urging legislative action.

“Obesity is expected to surpass smoking as the leading cause of preventable morbidity and mortality,” Dr. Mark Eisenberg of Jewish General Hospital and his co-authors wrote in Tuesday’s issue of the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

Action could mean taxing junk food, banning trans fats, limiting the number of fast-food outlets near schools, regulating salt intake, setting standard portion sizes and nutritional labels.

“Legislative approaches, together with environmental modifications, can be an effective means of reversing the growing problem of obesity in Canada,” the authors say.

Canadians have become heavier and less fit over the last three decades. People aged 20 to 39 years have a body mass index equivalent to what people aged 40 and older had 30 years ago.

“The growing problem of obesity in Canada can be reversed only with an integrated approach involving both the public health and medical models,” the authors conclude.