Nutrition transition

Food security is a high priority issue on the Chinese political agenda. China’s food security is challenged by several anthropogenic, sociopolitical and policy factors, including: population growth; urbanization and industrialization; land use changes and water scarcity; income growth and nutritional transition; and turbulence in global energy and food markets. Sustained growth in agricultural productivity and stable relations with global food suppliers are the twin anchors of food security. Shortfalls in domestic food production can take their toll on international food markets. Turbulence in global energy markets can affect food prices and supply costs, affecting food security and poverty. Policy safeguards are needed to shield food supply against such forces. China must make unremitting policy responses to address the loss of its fertile land for true progress towards the goal of national food security, by investing in infrastructure such as irrigation, drainage, storage, transport, and agricultural research and institutional reforms such as tenure security and land market liberalization. The links between water and other development-related sectors such as population, energy, food, and environment, and the interactions among them require reckoning, as they together will determine future food security and poverty reduction in China. Climate change is creating a new level of uncertainty in water governance, requiring accelerated research to avoid water-related stresses.

The global livestock sector emerges as one of the most significant contributors to environmental degradation, at every scale from local to global. In addition, the production of meat pulls heavy on the global markets of grains and oilseeds to use as animal feed. Although there are many important economic and food security grounds to support the ongoing growth of the livestock industry, there are equally environmental and socio-economic limits to this growth. With China developing rapidly and its population becoming wealthier, demand for meat and other animal source foods is rising rapidly, with nationally and globally significant implications for the environment and our food systems. The aim of this research is to investigate past environmental and socio-economic implications of the Chinese livestock revolution and to use that review, together with views from experts and stakeholders, to construct scenarios for the future of China’s meat demand and its environmental and socioeconomic implications for the year 2030. Data to construct the scenarios was collected via an online webinar and via email contact. From each scenario a SWOT-analysis was made and finally we identified three over-arching driving forces, including globalised free markets, state control and cultural traditions. These scenarios can help policy and decision makers to anticipate hidden weaknesses, links and inflexibilities in China’s meat demand. When revealed in advance through scenario writing, these weaknesses can be attenuated or reduced more effectively in the present rather than at a later stage. From these scenarios different strategic development pathways can be identified that take full account of the socioeconomic and environmental implications of China’s meat demand.

India is experiencing a modernisation process characterised by rapid urbanisation and the emergence of a new middle class. This process is expected to lead to a change in lifestyles and dietary patterns, and notably higher consumption of animal based foods. The present article focuses on this changing dietary trend in the city of Vadodara in Gujarat (India). A stratified sample of 432 women and men was selected, representing Brahmin, non-Brahmin and Jain communities from high, medium and low socioeconomic strata. The results revealed that, in the transition process, the supposed protein shift from plant-to animal based foods takes specific forms in this cultural context because of more complex drivers that shape food consumption than the socioeconomic position in the society. It highlights that beyond the supra-determination of castes and socioeconomic classes, major drivers of this consumption are the norms and values attached to foods and their interrelations with eating practices according to spatiotemporal and social dimensions. This Indian case reveals that dietary change is not unidirectional towards the Western model but each culture has a unique form of transition.

This paper attempts to link last century’s disruption of local agricultural systems to today’s presence of childhood
under nutrition and adult overweight and obesity in the Yucatan Peninsula. It first compares Height for Age (H/A), Weight
for Age (W/A) and Body Mass Index (BMI) of children from three rural populations in Yucatan and Campeche, Mexico
whose subsistence strategy had been altered to different degrees since 1970. It then compares BMI in adults, in the same
regions, born before and after the alteration of their environment in the 1970´s. Children in the least disrupted zone were
taller and had lower BMI than children in the other two, but were not heavier than children from the richest disrupted
zone. Children in the poorest disrupted zone were shorter and lighter than the rest. BMI in adult men was higher in the
two most disrupted zones only in those cohorts that grew up after the traditional agricultural regime was altered. It is
concluded that disruptions of staple-based subsistence agriculture promoted a stockier phenotype in children and a tendency
to accumulate body fat. Persistence of these conditions in the twenty first century has favored the coexistence of
stunting during childhood with adults who easily become overweight.

Resumen: Se presenta evidencia que asocia la perturbación de sistemas agrícolas de subsistencia con la presencia de desnutrición infantil y sobrepeso-obesidad en adultos de zonas rurales de la península de Yucatán. Se comparan la talla para la edad (T/E), el peso para la edad (P/E) y el índice de masa corporal (IMC) de niños y adultos de tres poblaciones rurales de Yucatán y Campeche, México cuya estrategia agrícola de subsistencia fue alterada de manera distinta desde 1970. Los niños de las regiones menos perturbadas eran significativamente más altos, pero no más pesados que los niños de las otras dos regiones por lo que tenían un IMC menor. Los niños de la zona perturbada más pobre eran más bajos y menos pesados que el resto. El IMC de los adultos varones era más alto en las zonas más perturbadas solo en cohortes que crecieron después de que su régimen de subsistencia fuera alterado. Se concluyó que la perturbación de la agricultura de subsistencia promovió el desarrollo de un fen...

The United Arab Emirates has undergone remarkable economic and social transformations over the past few decades. We present findings on the prevalence of overweight and obesity, dietary and activity patterns among Emiratis in 2009/10, and explore associated urbanization and wealth factors. A cross-sectional study was conducted in 628 randomly selected households in all seven emirates. Sociodemographics, 24-h dietary recalls, physical activity and anthropometric data were collected from adult females (≥ 19 years), adolescents (11-18 years) and children (6-10 years) in each family via in-person interviews using validated questionnaires. In 2009/10, 65% of adult women, 28% of male adolescents and 40% of female adolescents, 25% of male children and 41% of female children were overweight or obese. 43% of girls and 38% of boys (6-10 years) consumed more calories than their estimated energy requirements. Snacking represents a major source of Emirati caloric intake (>20%) of total calori...

A diverse diet is recommended in many dietary guidelines. However, because there are no unified standards for measurement methods, objective comparisons across different populations or time points is difficult. This report proposes a new dietary diversity index based on quantitative distribution of consumed foods to allow objective measurement of dietary diversity.A Quantitative Index for Dietary Diversity (QUANTIDD) is proposed: QUANTIDD = (1 − ∑jn prop[j]2)/(1 − 1/n), where prop(j) is the proportion of food group(s) j that contributes to total energy or nutrient intake, n is the number of food groups, and j = 1,2,…,n. The numerator is the probability that the two foods taken out of an aggregation of consumed foods belong to different food groups. The denominator is its maximum value. The index ranges from 0 to 1. By using the officially released average data from the National Nutrition Survey in Japan from 1957 to 2000, we investigated annual changes in the QUANTIDD. We also investigated the distribution of the index by using individual data from the National Nutrition Survey in Japan in 1996.The QUANTIDD increased from the 1960s to the 1970s. This was the era of rapid economic growth in Japan, during which the dietary habits of the Japanese underwent rapid changes. The distribution of the QUANTIDD was skewed to the left, but logit-transformation decreased this asymmetry and made it similar to a normal distribution.Because this index can measure dietary diversity objectively and is suitable for statistical handling, it is useful as a method to compare dietary patterns across different populations or time points.

La Réunion a connu ces dernières décennies une évolution rapide du mode de vie et en particulier de l’alimentation. Nous avons calculé entre 1975 et 2002, les disponibilités alimentaires annuelles en kg/hab/an. Nous avons évalué, pour chacune de ces années, la disponibilité énergétique quotidienne moyenne par habitant et la structure macro-nutritionnelle de cette ration. En 27 ans, l’augmentation de la disponibilité en viandes et produits laitiers a entraîné une hausse de la part des graisses et protéines animales dans la ration. Dans le même temps, la part des glucides totaux a diminué malgré l’augmentation de la quantité de sucres simples consommée. L’occidentalisation rapide de l’alimentation est probablement liée aux fortes prévalences observées de diabète et d’obésité à La Réunion. Des actions de prévention s’appuyant sur le Programme National Nutrition Santé doivent continuer à être mises en place pour enrayer ce phénomène.In the last decades in Reunion Island, dramatic changes occurred in the way of life, especially in food consumption. We calculated annual food availability in kg/inhabitant/year, between 1975 and 2002. We evaluated for each year, mean daily energy availability per inhabitant and the nutritional structure of the meal. In 27 years, the increase of meat and milky products availability led to an increase of the part of fat and animal proteins. In the same time, part of carbohydrates decreased in spite of the rise of simple sugar. High prevalence of diabetes and obesity observed in Reunion Island is probably linked to rapid westernization of food. Actions of prevention based on the Programme National Nutrition Santé should continue to face this phenomenon.

This paper attempts to link last century's disruption of local agricultural systems to today's presence of childhood under nutrition and adult overweight and obesity in the Yucatan Peninsula. It first compares Height for Age (H/A), Weight for Age (W/A) and Body Mass Index (BMI) of children from three rural populations in Yucatan and Campeche, Mexico whose subsistence strategy had been altered to different degrees since 1970. It then compares BMI in adults, in the same regions, born before and after the alteration of their environment in the 1970's. Children in the least disrupted zone were taller and had lower BMI than children in the other two, but were not heavier than children from the richest disrupted zone. Children in the poorest disrupted zone were shorter and lighter than the rest. BMI in adult men was higher in the two most disrupted zones only in those cohorts that grew up after the traditional agricultural regime was altered. It is concluded that disruptions o...

Disruption of circadian rhythms has been associated with obesity in children and adolescents, and with hypertension in adults, in industrialized populations. We examined cross-sectional associations between sleep duration or television viewing and obesity and blood pressure in Brazilian adolescents. The sample consisted of 4452 adolescents aged 10-12 years participating in a prospective birth cohort study in Pelotas, Brazil. Sleep duration and television viewing were determined through questionnaires. Obesity was assessed using international cut-offs for body mass index (BMI), and body fatness by skinfold thicknesses. Blood pressure was measured using a validated monitor. Short sleep duration was associated with increased BMI, skinfolds, systolic blood pressure, activity levels and television viewing. Each hour of sleep reduced BMI by 0.16 kg/m(2) (s.e. 0.04), and was associated with odds ratio for obesity of 0.86 (s.e. 0.04), both P<0.001. Television viewing was associated with ...

Barquera S, Rivera JA, Safdie, Flores M, Campos-Nonato I, Campirano F. Consumo de energía y nutrimentos en niños mexicanos prescolares y escolares: Encuesta Nacional de Nutrición 1999. Salud Publica Mex 2003;45 supl 4:S540-S550. El texto completo en inglés de este ...