The World is Fat: The Fads, Trends, Policies and Products that are Fattening the Human Race

In this talk, Barry Popkin, one the world's leading experts on the obesity crisis, argues that the fattening of the human race is not simply about gluttony, but it is instead the result of an unprecedented collision of technology, globalization, government policies and food industry practices with human biology. Our biology developed over the course of hundreds of thousands of years has not prepared us for the unprecedented shifts in the ways we eat, drink and move.

Popkin's presentation will move us across the centuries of human existence and the vast shifts in the ways we live, the roles of modern technology, food distribution systems, the behavior of industries and governments across the globe as he provides insights into the changes we and others face. He will show how these changes are actually accelerating, and the actions of some countries (but not our own) are beginning to address this epidemic.

Lecturer: Barry Popkin, director of the University of North Carolina Interdisciplinary Obesity Center and the Carla Smith Chambelee Distinguished Professor of global nutrition in the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, has studied economics and nutrition for more than three decades. His research has spanned six continents, where he spearheaded wide-ranging, long-term studies of the effects of lifestyle change on how we eat, drink and move and the ultimate affect of these changes on body composition.

For more information, to be added to our mailing list or to register by phone, contact Ann-Louise Aguiar '76 at (919) 962-3574 or ccll@unc.edu.