Obesity is a global epidemic. As the world gets fatter, we begin to see its impact across many aspects of day-to-day life. Obesity is changing the world we live in. Across a wide range of sectors, from the food industry to clothing design we can see the impact of the world’s growing waistline. Perhaps the biggest impact of all is on our physical and psychological health and the effect on the organisations and institutions that support these.

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Together we’ll investigate how modern life is increasing levels of obesity around the world and the wide-ranging consequences this presents. We’ll explore the impact of abundant cheap, high-calorie fast food; sedentary lifestyles; changing modes of transport and increasing urbanisation.

Throughout this four week course, we’ll explore the following questions:

- How do we define and measure obesity?

- What are the causes of obesity?

- What are the consequences of obesity on health?

- How is research into obesity helping us to understand the issue?

MOOC List is learner-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Course Auditing

FutureLearn

University of Reading

Angela Alexander

Medicine & Pharmacology

Health & Society