McKenzie, BL; Pinho-Gomes, AC; Woodward, M; (2024) Addressing the global obesity burden – a gender responsive approach to changing food environments is needed. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society 10.1017/S0029665124000120. (In press).

Text Pinho-Gomes_Diet and obesity trends_sex differences_review_response to review_17_11_23.pdf Access restricted to UCL open access staff until 15 February 2025. Download (322kB)

Abstract

Obesity is a leading cause of death and disability globally. There is a higher proportion of women living with obesity than men, with differences in prevalence rates between women and men particularly staggering in low- and middle- income countries. The food environments that most people live in have been defined as “obesogenic”, characterised by easy access to energy dense, highly palatable foods with poor nutritional value. There is an established need to intervene to change food environments to prevent obesity. However, minimal successes are evident with no country set to meet the World Health Organization goal of reducing obesity prevalence to 2010 numbers by 2025. In this review, we provide a narrative around the sex (biological) and gender (socio-cultural) related considerations for the relationship between nutrition, interactions with the food environment, and obesity risk. We provide an argument that there are gendered responses to food environments that place women at a higher risk of obesity particularly in relation to food industry influences, due to gendered roles and responsibilities in relation to paid and unpaid labour, and due to specific food security threats. This review concludes with hypotheses for addressing the obesity burden in a gender responsive manner, with a call for gender equity to be a key component of the development, implementation and monitoring of obesity prevention focused policies going forward.

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