Barry Michael Popkin (born May 23, 1944)[2] is an American nutrition and obesity researcher at the Carolina Population Center and the W.R. Kenan Jr.
He was a co-author on a widely cited 2004 paper in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition which speculated that high fructose corn syrup-containing beverages may uniquely contribute to obesity.
[7][8] In his research, he shows how increasing access to media and exposure to advertising, a powerful food industry, the rise of Wal-Mart like shopping centers, and a dramatic decline in physical activity are clashing with millions of years of human evolution, creating a world of overweight people with debilitating health problems such as diabetes.
Ultimately, Popkin contends that widespread obesity is less a result of poor individual dietary choices than about a hi-tech, interconnected world in which governments and multinational corporations have extraordinary power to shape our everyday lives and environments.
"[13] Another 2014 study led by Popkin found that as a result of the Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation Pledge, food companies sold about 6.4 trillion fewer calories in 2012 than they did in 2007.
More recently he worked with the Mexican government on a number of panels and commissions related to creating a healthier diet and preventing increased obesity and diabetes.
[16] He is working with a number of countries in Asia and Latin America on related large-scale activities to help reduce the risks of poor diets and obesity.
As part of an evaluation fund he leads, they are working with the Chilean government and colleagues at the Institute of Nutrition and Food Technology and the Chronicas group at the Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia in Lima.
[22] In the past decade after he organized a bellagio conference on large-scale regulatory and fiscal options for addressing global obesity much of his energy has been working on regulatory options such as food labeling and marketing control in many countries(e.g. Chile), fiscal actions around SSB and other ultra-processed food taxes(e.g. Mexico), and consulting with dozens of countries on such actions.
In the book, Popkin contends that the rising rates of obesity around the world are due to several different factors, including globalization, technology, and the fact that people now eat more often and in more places than they did before.
[23] He also cites the fact that humans have a tendency to enjoy eating foods containing large amounts of sugar and fat as another contributor to the obesity epidemic.
[26] He is currently a partner of Cay Stratton, formerly advisor to the UK government on youth and young adult employment and currently senior fellow at MDC, a nonprofit focusing on southern poverty issues.