Impact of Diet and Food Policy on the Development of Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) Epidemics
A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Health Behavior, Chronic Disease and Health Promotion".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 May 2019) | Viewed by 69408
Special Issue Editor
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
We are organising a Special Issue on the impact of diet and food policy on the development of the obesity and Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) epidemics. The venue is a peer-reviewed scientific journal that publishes articles and communications in the interdisciplinary area of the environmental health sciences and public health, including aspects of government policy.
Obesity and the consequent development of T2DM in individuals with a genetic predisposition have become a worldwide problem affecting both developed and developing countries. In particular, T2DM is forecast to affect the developing world to the detriment of both their health and general economies more so than those of the developed economies. Dietary intake and government food policy worldwide may have played a role in the development of both of these epidemics.
Within the developed world, obesity rates have remained at about 6–8% of the population for decades, but since new food policies were introduced to supposedly target the rising rates of coronary heart disease in the late 1970s/early 1980s, obesity rates have rocketed to almost 30% of the population in some developed countries, mirrored by accelerating rates in the developing world. At the time as these food policy changes, a warning was made by many scientists, including Ahrens in New York and Yudkin in London, that such changes would lead to an increase in the rates of obesity and T2DM. In addition, it is now becoming clear that this increase in obesity within the population has led to obesity overtaking smoking as the main cause of cancer in the population.
There is now an ongoing discussion amongst scientists and clinicians worldwide as to whether the changes in food policy, advocated since the 1980s, are the key to the deterioration in the public health of populations. In particular, childhood obesity and the development of T2DM in children, a disease unknown in children prior to the change in food policy, is now threatening the "normal" lifespan of the population, with a possible reduction in the life expectancy of our children.
Admittedly, many other changes within the environment have also occurred in this timeframe, not least the development of the digital economy, with digital marketing and digital play, the latter almost certainly affecting the levels of activity in children. This would certainly add to both inappropriate food intake and reduced physical activity leading to the overweight or obese child.
This Special Issue is open to any subject area related to diet, food availability and type, and the effects of food policy on the development of obesity and T2DM. The list of key words is not exclusive but merely a suggestion.
Prof. Dr. Iain Broom
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- Food environment
- Food policy
- Food additives
- Food availability
- Food marketing
- Processed foods
- Food and exercise
- Fast food
- Mediterranean diet
- Saturated fat
- Refined carbohydrate
- Low fat/low carbohydrate diets
- Insulin sensitivity
- Exercise environment
- Digital environment
