This in person Cambridge Festival talk will investigate the food choices of adolescents and young adults, and the wide range of factors that may influence the food eaten across this period of life.

Dr Eleanor Winpenny, Dr Tiago Canelas and Mr Struan Tait from the MRC Epidemiology Unit will share their research from the UK and abroad, focusing on young people’s diets and the influence of changing home, institutional and built environments.

When: Wednesday 29 March 2023, 7:30 PM – 8:30 PM

Where: Lecture theatre A, University of Cambridge Admissions Office, New Museums site, Bene’t Street, Cambridge CB2 3PT

Watch a recording of this Cambridge Festival event

About this Cambridge Festival talk

The period of life from adolescence to early adulthood is emerging as a key time for development of future health, including sharp increases in overweight and obesity during this period, and the development of health habits which then persist through adult life. However, young people’s diets may change a lot during this period, driven by changes in living arrangements, the move from education to employment, and moves to different neighbourhoods.

In this interactive lecture we will present evidence from recent research, investigating how people’s diet changes as they go through adolescence and early adulthood, and the different lifestyle changes that appear to drive changes in diet. We will discuss the influence of different food environments, inviting contributions from the audience to consider their own food environments and how these influence their food choices. We will then discuss the food environments experienced in other contexts both within the UK and in other countries (e.g. Cameroon, South Africa and Nigeria) to explore how these different food environments may be linked to healthy or less healthy diets.

Audience Participation: before the event we would like to invite you to send us photos of features in your environment that you think influence what you eat. Please send any photos to CambridgeFestival@mrc-epid.cam.ac.uk Please make sure that photos do not include recognizable people, unless you have their consent.