Research

Mixed

Globalization-driven policies (agricultural trade liberalization, foreign direct investment in food processing, and global marketing) structurally increase the availability, lower the cost, and enhance the desirability of energy-dense, processed foods, thereby driving a nutrition transition characterized by increased consumption of fats and sweeteners and rising rates of obesity and diet-related chronic diseases.

To address obesity and chronic disease, policy makers must look beyond individual education and regulate the structural drivers of the food environment, including agricultural trade policies, foreign investment in food processing, and global marketing practices that make unhealthy foods cheaper and more available.

GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
Globalization affects the nature of agri-food systems, thereby altering the quantity, type, cost and desirability of foods available for consumption... The transition, implicated in the rapid rise of obesity and diet-related chronic diseases worldwide, is rooted in the processes of globalization.
Corinna Hawkes · Globalization and Health · 2006

Why this rating

The paper is a comprehensive review citing multiple case studies (Brazil, China, India, Mexico) and statistical data, though it is observational and ecological in nature.

Source

Uneven dietary development: linking the policies and processes of globalization with the nutrition transition, obesity and diet-related chronic diseases

Corinna Hawkes · Globalization and Health · 2006

DOI 10.1186/1744-8603-2-4

narrative_reviewCited 890×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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