{"id":20759,"date":"2026-06-01T16:39:46","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T16:39:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/2026\/06\/01\/nutrition-professor-fights-against-unhealthy-habits-unc-gillings-school-of-global-public-health\/"},"modified":"2026-06-01T16:39:46","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T16:39:46","slug":"nutrition-professor-fights-against-unhealthy-habits-unc-gillings-school-of-global-public-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/2026\/06\/01\/nutrition-professor-fights-against-unhealthy-habits-unc-gillings-school-of-global-public-health\/","title":{"rendered":"Nutrition professor fights against unhealthy habits – UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health"},"content":{"rendered":"

June 1, 2026
Originally by Scott Jared, University Communications and Marketing<\/em>
A bike brought Barry Popkin to Chapel Hill in 1977.
He had just returned to the U.S. after three years of public health research among 4 million people in Manila, Philippines. He was doing some extraordinary work, but he couldn\u2019t ride his bike in the crowded metropolis.
Prominent American universities offered him jobs, many in large cities where traffic made cycling difficult and dangerous.
He was not interested.
But when Carolina\u2019s offer arrived, Popkin took the job, ready to help build a nutrition research program and to ride uncongested roads.
World-renowned public health researcher Barry Popkin says biking had a lot to do with his coming to Carolina. (UNC-Chapel Hill\/Dan Sears)
Popkin,\u00a0W.R. Kenan Jr. Distinguished Professor<\/a>\u00a0of nutrition at\u00a0UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health<\/a>, continues groundbreaking research on how social change, diet and physical activity shape human health. Sometimes living in countries where he worked, Popkin has influenced global research methods, mentored 66 Carolina doctoral students who became scientists and published hundreds of papers. His work has shaped policies worldwide that help babies survive and people live longer, healthier lives.
Over more than five decades, Popkin has expanded the reach of his ideas. He was the first scholar to identify the global shift from traditional diets and active lifestyles to ones shaped by sugary drinks, processed foods and sedentary living.
He called the phenomenon the Nutrition Transition.
Today the concept is foundational in global public health research. Scholars use it to explain why countries once struggling primarily with hunger now face epidemics of obesity, diabetes and heart disease. At international conferences, young researchers sometimes treat Popkin like a rock star, asking for photos, autographs or a moment with him.
He grew up in small-town Superior, Wisconsin, often one of America\u2019s wintriest places.
A self-described \u201cnormal kid,\u201d he also calls himself \u201cthe ignored middle child and the mischievous one.\u201d That mischievous streak occasionally got him into trouble, like the time he commandeered a tractor at a construction site simply to drive around the site.
As a teenager, he worked constantly. He mowed yards, shoveled snow and delivered newspapers. \u201cI earned a hunk of money for college,\u201d Popkin said.
In high school he was a weekend sportswriter for the Superior Evening Telegram. He also managed his school\u2019s basketball, football and baseball teams and organized a Little League program where he often was groundskeeper, scorekeeper or umpire.
In 1964, after his junior year at the University of Wisconsin, Popkin was one of 20 American students selected to spend a year studying in India. He was interested in economics but instead undertook a research project studying the government\u2019s failed relocation of families from a massive squatter settlement in Old Delhi to apartment complexes.
Popkin conducted household interviews and documented how the relocations ignored deeply rooted cultural patterns such as extended families sharing space, outdoor cooking and neighborhood connections.
The experience exposed him to extreme poverty and showed how economic policy, culture and health intersect.
Travel through Southeast Asia and Japan afterward deepened Popkin\u2019s interest in international development. During his graduate school days, Popkin shifted from economics toward the emerging field of public health nutrition.
Popkin turned 82 in May and plans to transition to part-time status in 2027. He will have more time for competitive bridge and cycling the quiet roads that drew him to Carolina half a century ago.
\u201cI grew up believing in service and doing the public good and, luckily, it\u2019s worked out,\u201d Popkin said.
Besides Popkin\u2019s early micronutrient and household studies in the Philippines, his career milestones include:
View the original story by University Communications and Marketing<\/a>.
Contact the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health communications team at sphcomm@unc.edu<\/a>.<\/em>
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June 1, 2026<\/br> Barry Popkin\u2019s groundbreaking research on the dangers of sugary drinks, processed foods and inactivity has improved lives worldwide. <\/p>\n

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June 1, 2026Originally by Scott Jared, University Communications and MarketingA bike brought Barry Popkin to Chapel Hill in 1977.He had just returned to the U.S. after three years of public health research among 4 million people in Manila, Philippines. He was doing some extraordinary work, but he couldn\u2019t ride his bike in the crowded metropolis.Prominent […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20760,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20759","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20759","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20759"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20759\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20760"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20759"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}