Main content

Coronavirus: Obesity's defining moment?

Could the pandemic make the world tackle its obesity problem?

Emily Thomas asks whether the coronavirus pandemic will turn out to be the defining moment in the fight against obesity. Will we see governments take radical action, now that the pandemic has turned the spotlight on this growing global problem? And why hasn鈥檛 the pandemic made most of us eat more healthily?

Even experts have been surprised by just how strong an impact obesity has been found to have on the risks of coronavirus. We hear from Professor Barry Popkin, of the University of North Carolina, who led a major study into the relationship between the two. He tells us he鈥檚 worried that food companies are using the pandemic to push ultra processed food on low-income populations.

Professor Corinna Hawkes, of City, University of London, explains how obesity policy became personal in the UK after Boris Johnson caught the virus.

And Jacqueline Bowman-Busato, Policy Lead for the European Association for the Study of Obesity, tells us how her own experience of living with obesity has led her to lobby for changes in how obesity is viewed and treated. She says the pandemic has provided a much needed wake up call on a neglected and misunderstood public health issue.

If you would like to get in touch with the show please email thefoodchain@bbc.co.uk

(Picture: Fat cells, Credit: Getty Images/麻豆社)

Available now

27 minutes

Last on

Mon 28 Sep 2020 00:32GMT

Broadcasts

  • Thu 24 Sep 2020 10:32GMT
  • Thu 24 Sep 2020 15:32GMT
  • Thu 24 Sep 2020 21:32GMT
  • Thu 24 Sep 2020 22:32GMT
  • Sun 27 Sep 2020 07:32GMT
  • Mon 28 Sep 2020 00:32GMT

Food Chain highlights

Tea, coffee, spices, chillies ... snack on a selection of programme highlights

Podcast