Global nutrition dynamics: the world is shifting rapidly toward a diet linked with noncommunicable diseases1–3
Open Access
- 1 August 2006
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Elsevier BV in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
- Vol. 84 (2), 289-298
- https://doi.org/10.1093/ajcn/84.1.289
Abstract
Global energy imbalances and related obesity levels are rapidly increasing. The world is rapidly shifting from a dietary period in which the higher-income countries are dominated by patterns of degenerative diseases (whereas the lower- and middle-income countries are dominated by receding famine) to one in which the world is increasingly being dominated by degenerative diseases. This article documents the high levels of overweight and obesity found across higher- and lower-income countries and the global shift of this burden toward the poor and toward urban and rural populations. Dietary changes appear to be shifting universally toward a diet dominated by higher intakes of animal and partially hydrogenated fats and lower intakes of fiber. Activity patterns at work, at leisure, during travel, and in the home are equally shifting rapidly toward reduced energy expenditure. Large-scale decreases in food prices (eg, beef prices) have increased access to supermarkets, and the urbanization of both urban and rural areas is a key underlying factor. Limited documentation of the extent of the increased effects of the fast food and bottled soft drink industries on this nutrition shift is available, but some examples of the heterogeneity of the underlying changes are presented. The challenge to global health is clear.This publication has 62 references indexed in Scilit:
- Rapid income growth adversely affects diet quality in China—particularly for the poor!Social Science & Medicine (1982), 2004
- The Emergence of Supermarkets with Chinese Characteristics: Challenges and Opportunities for China's Agricultural DevelopmentDevelopment Policy Review, 2004
- Supermarkets and Produce Quality and Safety Standards in Latin AmericaAmerican Journal of Agricultural Economics, 2003
- The Sweetening of the World's DietObesity Research, 2003
- The nutrition transition in Spain: a European Mediterranean countryEuropean Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2002
- The underweight/overweight household: an exploration of household sociodemographic and dietary factors in ChinaPublic Health Nutrition, 2002
- The unique aspects of the nutrition transition in South Korea: the retention of healthful elements in their traditional dietPublic Health Nutrition, 2002
- A new stage of the nutrition transition in ChinaPublic Health Nutrition, 2002
- Part I. What has happened in terms of some of the unique elements of shift in diet, activity, obesity, and other measures of morbidity and mortality within different regions of the world?Public Health Nutrition, 2002
- Making healthy public policy; developing the science by learning the art: an ecological framework for policy studiesHealth Promotion International, 1987