Together We Can Resolve The Nutritional Paradox

The food, how it is available today, is harmingthe health of the population and planet.

Jade Bourne, Marketing and Communications Manager

Decades of streamlining production and profits to answer global food security demands have caused four distinct burdens in the way the food system works today, what we call the Quadruple Burdens of the Nutritional Paradox:

Hunger, Stunting, and Wasting

The world already produces enough to feel 10 billion people1, more than required for the population today, yet paradoxically many still go to bed hungry. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, globally 821 million consume insufficient calories2.

Overweight and Obesity

Hunger paradoxically co-exists with overweight and obesity, in the same country, and often even in the same household. The World Health Organisation estimates 2.3 billion consume too many calories and are overweight/obese – triple the rates from 19753.

Micronutrient Deficiencies

On the other end of the scale, FAO estimates that some 486 million people remain undernourished in Asia and the Pacific4. Paradoxically, even overweight and obese people eating large amounts of food can, and do, suffer5–7 from micronutrient deficiencies.

Planet Destruction

To cope with growing demand, the food industry then directly and indirectly destroys the ecosystem that provides us with a stable food supply. Every second one football pitch of forest is converted into agricultural land, yet we depend on forest for climate stability and preventing soil erosion.Simply, the population is eating a calorie-rich but nutrient-poor diet.

TAKE A STAND – act today and alleviate sustainably the Nutritional Paradox.

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REFERENCES

  1. Holt-Giménez, E., Shattuck, A., Altieri, M., Herren, H. & Gliessman, S. We Already Grow Enough Food for 10 Billion People… and Still Can’t End Hunger. Journal of Sustainable Agriculture (2012). doi:10.1080/10440046.2012.695331
  2. FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP & WHO. The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the WorldBuilding climate resilience for food security and nutrition. (2018).
  3. WHO. WHO | Overweight and obesity. WHO (2018).
  4. FAO. Asia and the Pacific Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition 2018 – Accelerating progress towards the SDGsThe State of Food Security and Nutrition (2018).
  5. Laillou, A. et al. Intra-individual double burden of overweight and micronutrient deficiencies among Vietnamese women. PLoS One 9, (2014).
  6. Damms-Machado, A., Weser, G. & Bischoff, S. C. Micronutrient deficiency in obese subjects undergoing low calorie diet. Clin. Nutr. Interface Between Metab. Diet, Dis. 187–210 (2013). doi:10.1201/b16308
  7. Astrup, A. & Bügel, S. Micronutrient deficiency in the aetiology of obesity. Int. J. Obes. 34, 947–948 (2010).
  8. Carrington, D., Kommenda, N. & Levett, C. One football pitch of forest lost every second in 2017, data reveals | Environment | The Guardian. The Guardian (2018).