Beyond Food

The lack of access to healthy, safe, and nutritious food translates into diet-related non-communicable diseases such as obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes, and dental disease. Children who do not receive enough nutritious food growing up experience health issues, including slow physical and mental growth. In 2020, 149 million children under five were stunted (low height for age) and another 45 million were wasted (low weight for height). Women (mothers and daughters) are the first to sacrifice their share of food.  Women make up 60% of those affected by hunger.

Public health researchers and experts advocate for healthy diets and an active lifestyle to keep diet-related diseases at bay. But advising is not enough. And the health system often intervenes at the curative stage to treat a food-related disease rather than at a preventative stage. It is important to treat the root cause rather than just the disease. Public health needs to join hands with food systems to create an environment where all people receive their recommended nutritious diet.

Food systems comprise agriculture, nutrition, business, science — basically every stage from farm/ocean to fork. Many countries publish food-based dietary guidelines that promote the consumption of nutritious and unprocessed food. Yet, the food systems that cater to our dietary needs are not helping in that consumption pattern.

Most countries recommend their populations to consume more fruits and vegetables. Yet, the agricultural subsidies they offer tend to be the least for fruit and vegetable production. Thus most poor people in the world cannot afford to buy the recommended amounts of fruits and vegetables because they are too expensive. Instead, they opt for consuming grains such as wheat, rice, and corn that receive a lion’s share of subsidies and are hence readily available for constant consumption.