Film documents worldwide explosion of obesity

How and why did the problem of obesity explode in places that, not so long ago, counted malnutrition and even famine as major health concerns? Increasing wealth, changing diets, genetic programming and aggressive marketing by international food companies, argue the makers of the film Globesity: Fat’s New Frontier.

The International Wednesdays documentary series presents the 2012 documentary, originally produced for the Australian current affairs program “Foreign Correspondent,” on Wednesday, April 10, at noon in the International Student Centre on the second floor of Laurier Hall.

The film travels to China where the consumption of sugar has skyrocketed, to Brazil where corporations such as Nestlé have fundamentally altered traditional diets, to India where it’s predicted that 100 million people will be suffering diabetes in the not-too-distant future, and on to Mexico—the biggest consumer of soft drinks in the world, where diabetes is already the number one killer.

International Wednesdays screenings are free and open to the public.