What is driving global obesity trends? Globalization or "modernization"?

ABSTRACT:

Background

Worldwide obesity has more than doubled since 1980. Researchers have attributed rising obesity rates to factors related to globalization processes, which are believed to contribute to obesity by flooding low-income country markets with inexpensive but obesogenic foods and diffusing Western-style fast food outlets (dependency/world systems theory). However, alternative explanations include domestic factors such as increases in unhealthy food consumption in response to rising income and higher women's labor force participation as countries develop economically ("modernization" theory). To what extent are processes of globalization driving rising global overweight/obesity rates versus domestic economic and social development processes? This study evaluates the influence of

SUBMITTER: Fox A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6486955 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature