Over the past two decades, rates of adult and childhood obesity in the developed world have risen sharply. By the year 2000, 65% of the United States population were overweight, 30% of these obese. Whilst medical treatment has tended to focus on individual habits of diet and exercise, this approach does little to account for globally increasing levels of obesity, and the external, environmental factors that may be responsible. This in-depth study assembles the evidence for a geographical explanation of current obesity trends, and is the first work to examine the ways in which environment and living conditions promote an imbalance of energy intake over energy expenditure. The book calls upon the expertise of geographers, nutritionists, epidemiologists, sociologists and public health researchers, resulting in a broad, multidisciplinary analysis of this important health issue. Cover graphic designed by Georgia Witten-Sage.

'The book is clearly written and well-structured...there is much to inspire researchers in this expanding field of critical importance to global health.' Australasian Epidemiologist '... Geographies of Obesity is a timely and important contribution in understanding the underlying causes of obesity and its inequitable distribution across the population.' New Zealand Geographer

Jamie Pearce, University of Edinburgh, UK and Karen Witten, Massey University, New Zealand