Paper short abstract:

The paper explores awareness of factors which can lead to obesity among research participants from Poland. The main focus is on indicating how it is shaped by the interplay of factors form both the local and the global level and what barriers can make obesity prevention difficult for certain groups of people

Paper long abstract:

According to recent surveys, over a half of population of the Poles is either overweight or suffers from obesity and the number is growing. In my paper I would like to investigate the interplay between the 'global' and the 'local' factors which take part in shaping social awareness of obesity in Poland. I am going to refer to several examples. First of all, I will focus on changing patterns of food consumption and dieting in Poland. Secondly, I will explore the input of obesity prevention campaigns initiated by various entities: the governmental institutions, non-governmental institutions, companies producing food and providing dietary products. Finally, I will refer to the results of the research study which I conducted with a group of research participants from Poland. The study was aimed at exploring the awareness of factors leading to obesity among the research participants, their personal attitudes to obesity and experiences concerning obesity ( such as being overweight, having overweight friends or family members etc.) as well as their perception of any possible barriers, which make it difficult for them to comply with those rules of obesity prevention, which they would like to follow.