Obesity conference to take place at IU

IU will host its first conference on obesity, “Obesity: Causes, Consequences and Policy Challenges” starting at 8:30 a.m. Friday in Wylie Hall Room 005. The conference, sponsored by the Bureau of Social Science Research and the Department of Economics, will feature various researchers and professors presenting topics such as “Free Trade Makes You Fat,” “The Economics of Obesity” and “Public Views on the Causes of Obesity.” Lunch will be provided.\n“The obesity epidemic is one of the major public health or public policy issues in the country,” said Gerhard Glomm, the conference’s organizer and chair of the IU Department of Economics, when asked why the conference was organized. “Excess annual mortality from obesity and obesity-related health (conditions) has been estimated to be over 100,000 deaths.” \nGlomm said several departments are collaborating on this conference because obesity is caused by many factors.\n“Obesity seems to me to be an issue that naturally calls for a multi-disciplinary approach,” Glomm said.\nGlomm said economics plays a direct role in the rise of obesity.\n“We know from economic studies that in large part, the rise in obesity can be explained by a drop in the relative price of food and the time of preparing or acquiring food,” he said.\nRobert Goodman, dean and professor at the School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation, said IU is a good place to have a conference like this due to high student interest and the resources available.\n“We have great expertise across the campus in specialty areas like economics, public health, nursing and others that, in combination, can make a bigger difference than any one discipline by itself,” Goodman said. “IU also has a venerable history as a health-conscious campus.”\nOne of the main purposes of the conference is to bring scholars together who have an interest in researching this increasing health risk.\n“We are hoping to bring interested faculty and graduate students together and see if there is potential for conducting joint research,” said Rusty Tchernis, co-organizer and presenter. “We already have people here who are interested in the topic and hopefully enough will and energy to generate synergy.”\nAnyone with interest in researching or learning more about obesity is welcome to attend. The conference is free, but registration is required. To register, contact Harriet Kenny at 855-0836 or hkenny@indiana.edu. More information is available at http://www.iub.edu/~econdept/conference/Obesity_Conference_2007_Program.pdf.