Neoliberal Diet and its Impact on Obesity Gerardo Otero and Morteza Asadi

This paper argues that the risk of exposure to the high-energy components of industrial diet is enhanced with the globalization of neoliberalism. The former is measured through what is called the neoliberal diet risk (NDR) index. Based on in-depth panel data analysis of data from ten countries, the paper concludes that apart from all the health implications of obesity, its strong association with socio-economic determinants suggests that any “solutions” to this issue can hardly be addressed with an individual-focused approach, which is the most prevalent in the literature. Rather, the larger socio-economic determinants must be addressed by a societal agency like the state.

02_2020 (Download the full text in PDF format)

About the Authors:
Gerardo Otero is Professor of Sociology at School of International Studies, Simon Fraser University, Canada and  Morteza Asadi is a Retired Faculty Member of the Kharazmi University of Tehran and Ex. Visiting Scholar at SFU, Canada.

Email for correspondence:
asadi1339@gmail.com