Affiliations 

  • 1 Faculty of Informatics and Computing, University of Sultan Zainal Abidin, Terengganu, Malaysia
  • 2 Department of Life Sciences, University of Management and Technology, Lahore, Pakistan
  • 3 Department of Human Nutrition and Dietetics, School of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Management and Technology, Lahore, Pakistan
  • 4 Department of Food Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Zagazig University, Zagazig, Egypt
  • 5 Department of Food Development and Food Quality, Institute of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz University Hannover, Hannover, Germany
Front Nutr, 2023;10:1150403.
PMID: 37063335 DOI: 10.3389/fnut.2023.1150403

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Obesity, a complex, multifactorial disease, is considered a global disease burden widely affecting the quality of life across different populations. Factors involved in obesity involve genetics, behavior and socioeconomic and environmental origins, each contributing to the risk of debilitating morbidity and mortality. However, the trends across the world vary due to various globalization parameters.

METHODS: This article tends to identify the global social indicators, compiled into a global index, and develop a correlation between the global social index created by using the human development index, social and political globalization, the global happiness index, and the quality of infrastructure, institutions, and individuals using the internet factors and its effect on global obesity.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: Our results identified a positive correlation between medium human development levels with obesity compared to low and very high human development levels. Economic stability due to rapid industrialization has increased the buying capacity and changed the global food system, which seems to be the major driver of the rise of global obesity.

CONCLUSION: The results decipher that global social indicators and overall social index have positively affected global obesity, which will help policymakers and governmental organizations monitor the obesity patterns across their regions by a significant contribution from globally influenced social factors.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.