Health Researchers Connect Global Warming and Obesity

A new book by four public health researchers shows that global warming and obesity have the same causes- we drive too much, and carbon-intensive foods have become our daily bread.

1 minute read

June 21, 2009, 9:00 AM PDT

By Tim Halbur


The book, Globesity: A Planet Out of Control?, explains that obesity is rising around the world, and it is connected to carbon footprints.

"Those paying attention to climate change know the planet can't afford for the developing world to emit carbon dioxide at the same levels as the industrialized world. Public-health workers, too, foresee enormous trouble if developing countries adopt the worst dietary and lifestyle habits of rich countries. That shift is well underway, according to Michelle Holdsworth, Globesity's lead author and a nutritionist with the World Health Organization (WHO) in Montpellier, France.

"A lot of people think of [obesity] as something that's only in the United States, which we now know is a complete myth," she said in an interview.

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