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The impact of economic, political and social globalization on overweight and obesity in the 56 low and middle income countries


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Authors

Goryakin, Yevgeniy 
Lobstein, Tim 
James, W Philip T 
Suhrcke, Marc 

Abstract

Anecdotal and descriptive evidence has led to the claim that globalization plays a major role in inducing overweight and obesity in developing countries, but robust quantitative evidence is scarce. We undertook extensive econometric analyses of several datasets, using a series of new proxies for different dimensions of globalization potentially affecting overweight in up to 887,000 women aged 15e49 living in 56 countries between 1991 and 2009. After controlling for relevant individual and country level factors, globalization as a whole is substantially and significantly associated with an increase in the individual propensity to be overweight among women. Surprisingly, political and social globalization dominate the influence of the economic dimension. Hence, more consideration needs to be given to the forms of governance required to shape a more health-oriented globalization process.

Description

This is the final published version. It first appeared at http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953615001744.

Keywords

Developing countries, Globalization, Obesity, Overweight

Journal Title

Social Science & Medicine

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

133

Publisher

Elsevier
Sponsorship
The authors were supported by the Centre for Diet and Activity Research (CEDAR), a UKCRC Public Health Research Centre of Excellence. Funding from the British Heart Foundation, Economic and Social Research Council, Medical Research Council, the National Institute for Health Research, and the Wellcome Trust (087636/Z/ 08/Z ESRC: ES/G007462/1), under the auspices of the UK Clinical Research Collaboration, is gratefully acknowledged.