Uneven dietary development: linking the policies and processes of globalization with the nutrition transition, obesity and diet-related chronic diseases

In a "nutrition transition", the consumption of foods high in fats and sweeteners is increasing throughout the developing world. The transition, implicated in the rapid rise of obesity and diet-related chronic diseases worldwide, is rooted in the processes of globalization. Globalization affects the nature of agri-food systems, thereby altering the quantity, type, cost and desirability of foods available for consumption. Understanding the links between globalization and the nutrition transition is therefore necessary to help policy makers develop policies, including food policies, for addressing the global burden of chronic disease. While the subject has been much discussed, tracing the specific pathways between globalization and dietary change remains a challenge. To help address this challenge, this paper explores how one of the central mechanisms of globalization, the integration of the global marketplace, is affecting the specific diet patterns. Focusing on middle-income countries, it highlights the importance of three major processes of market integration: (I) production and trade of agricultural goods; (II) foreign direct investment in food processing and retailing; and (III) global food advertising and promotion. The paper reveals how specific policies implemented to advance the globalization agenda account in part for some recent trends in the global diet. Agricultural production and trade policies have enabled more vegetable oil consumption; policies on foreign direct investment have facilitated higher consumption of highly-processed foods, as has global food marketing. These dietary outcomes also reflect the socioeconomic and cultural context in which these policies are operating. An important finding is that the dynamic, competitive forces unleashed as a result of global market integration facilitates not only convergence in consumption habits (as is commonly assumed in the "Coca-Colonization" hypothesis), but adaptation to products targeted at different niche markets. This convergence-divergence duality raises the policy concern that globalization will exacerbate uneven dietary development between rich and poor. As high-income groups in developing countries accrue the benefits of a more dynamic marketplace, lower-income groups may well experience convergence towards poor quality obseogenic diets, as observed in western countries. Global economic polices concerning agriculture, trade, investment and marketing affect what the world eats. They are therefore also global food and health policies. Health policy makers should pay greater attention to these policies in order to address some of the structural causes of obesity and diet-related chronic diseases worldwide, especially among the groups of low socioeconomic status

Understanding the links between agriculture and health:

CONTENTS: 1.Overview / Corinna Hawkes and Marie T. Ruel; 2. Agriculture, Food, and Health: Perspectives on a Long Relationship / Tim Lang; 3. Agricultural Technology and Health / Michael Lipton, Saurabh Sinha, and Rachel Blackman; 4. Agriculture and Nutrition Linkages: Old Lessons and New Paradigms / Corinna Hawkes and Marie T. Ruel; 5. Agriculture, Food Safety, and Foodborne Diseases / Ewen C. D. Todd and Clare Narrod; 6. Agriculture, Malaria, and Water-Associated Diseases / Clifford M. Mutero, Matthew McCartney, and Eline Boelee; 7. Agriculture and HIV/AIDS / Stuart Gillespie; 8. Occupational Health Hazards of Agriculture / Donald Cole; 9. Livestock and Health / Maria Angeles O. Catelo; 10. Fish and Health / Nanna Roos, Md. Abdul Wahab, Chhoun Chamnan, and Shakuntala Haraksingh Thilsted; 11. Agroforesty, Nutrition, and Health / Brent Swallow and Sophie Ochola; 12. Agrobiodiversity, Nutrition, and Health / Timothy Johns, Ifeyironwa Francisca Smith, and Pablo B. Eyzaguirre; 13. Urban Agriculture and Health / Diana Lee-Smith and Gordon Prain; 14. Agriculture, Environment, and Health: Toward Sustainable Solutions / Rachel Nugent and Axel Drescher; 15. Agriculture and Health in the Policymaking Process / Todd Benson; 16. Opportunities for Improving the Synergies between Agriculture and Health / Robert Bos.Agriculture, Agroforestry, Health and nutrition, Agricultural technology, Food safety, Malaria, Diseases, HIV/AIDS, Sustainability, Biodiversity, Agrobiodiversity, Environmental management,

Urbanization and the Nutrition Transition

Diets are changing with rising incomes and urbanization— people are consuming more animal-source foods, sugar, fats and oils, refined grains, and processed foods. This “nutrition transition” is causing increases in overweight and obesity and diet-related diseases such as diabetes and heart disease. Urban residents are making the nutrition transition fastest— but it is occurring in rural areas too. Urban food environments—with supermarkets, food vendors, and restaurants—facilitate access to unhealthy diets, although they can also improve access to nutritious foods for people who can afford them. For the urban poor, the most easily available and affordable diets are often unhealthy

Crossing Divides: New Common Ground on Poverty and Economic Security

Crossing Divides: New Common Ground on Poverty and Economic Securit

Searching for the essential: Exploring practitioners’ views on actions for re-orienting food systems towards healthy diets

To effectively accelerate action from policymakers on re-orienting food systems towards healthy diets, global stakeholders need to first determine which of the many actions under discussion are essential to delivering healthy diets. In this exploratory study, we sought to identify if there are any actions that are considered essential for re-orienting food systems towards healthy diets across a diverse range of stakeholders and sectoral and country contexts. Through engaging practitioners in scoring and ranking actions, we found a wide diversity of views across many of the proposed actions. However, a handful of actions emerged as more essential, particularly school food programmes

Can the sustainable development goals reduce the burden of nutrition-related non-communicable diseases without truly addressing major food system reforms?

While the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs; 2000–2015) focused primarily on poverty reduction, hunger and infectious diseases, the proposed Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and targets pay more attention to nutrition and non-communicable diseases (NCDs). One of the 169 proposed targets of the SDGs is to reduce premature deaths from NCDs by one third; another is to end malnutrition in all its forms. Nutrition-related NCDs (NR-NCDs) stand at the intersection between malnutrition and NCDs. Driven in large part by remarkable transformations of food systems, they are rapidly increasing in most low and middle income countries (LMICs). The transformation to modern food systems began in the period following World War II with policies designed to meet a very different set of nutritional and food needs, and continued with globalization in the 1990s onwards. Another type of food systems transformation will be needed to shift towards a healthier and more sustainable diet – as will meeting many of the other SDGs. The process will be complex but is necessary. Communities concerned with NCDs and with malnutrition need to work more closely together to demand food systems change

Target Salt 2025: A Global Overview of National Programs to Encourage the Food Industry to Reduce Salt in Foods

Reducing population salt intake has been identified as a priority intervention to reduce non-communicable diseases. Member States of the World Health Organization have agreed to a global target of a 30% reduction in salt intake by 2025. In countries where most salt consumed is from processed foods, programs to engage the food industry to reduce salt in products are being developed. This paper provides a comprehensive overview of national initiatives to encourage the food industry to reduce salt. A systematic review of the literature was supplemented by key informant questionnaires to inform categorization of the initiatives. Fifty nine food industry salt reduction programs were identified. Thirty eight countries had targets for salt levels in foods and nine countries had introduced legislation for some products. South Africa and Argentina have both introduced legislation limiting salt levels across a broad range of foods. Seventeen countries reported reductions in salt levels in foods—the majority in bread. While these trends represent progress, many countries have yet to initiate work in this area, others are at early stages of implementation and further monitoring is required to assess progress towards achieving the global target