Ultra‐processed foods and the nutrition transition: Global, regional and national trends, food systems transformations and political economy drivers

Background: The role of processed foods in nutrition transition in the Pacific is receiving some attention in the context of a significant obesity and diet-related noncommunicable disease health burden. However, trends, patterns and underlying drivers of processed food markets in the Pacific are not well understood. The aim of this study was to investigate recent trends and patterns of processed food markets in the region and interpret the findings by engaging key literature on relevant food systems drivers. Methods: We conducted a mixed-methods approach involving two steps; (1) We analysed Euromonitor market sales data for processed food and beverage products sold from 2004–2018 for 16 countries differentiated by income level, and (2) guided by a food systems conceptual framework, we drew upon key literature to understand the likely drivers of our observations. Results: We observed plateaus and declines in processed food sales in some high-income countries but increases in upper-middle and lower-middle income countries, and most rapidly in the latter. Beverage markets appear to be stagnating across all income groups. Carbonated soft drinks, baked goods, vegetable oils, processed meats, noodles and sweet biscuits made up the majority of sales in transitioning countries. These observations are likely a result of income growth, urbanising populations, trade and globalisation, and various policies implemented by Pacific governments. Conclusions: A processed foods nutrition transition is well underway in the Pacific region and accelerating most prominently in lower-middle income countries.

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The study of life and food systems for Native Hawaiians based on their environment

AlterNative An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples ◽

10.1177/11771801211038263 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 117718012110382

Author(s):

Mapuana CK Antonio ◽

Kuaiwi Laka Makua ◽

Samantha Keaulana ◽

LeShay Keliiholokai ◽

J Kahaulahilahi Vegas ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Cultural Values ◽

Food Systems ◽

Environmental Changes ◽

Food Sovereignty ◽

Nutrition Transition ◽

Well Being ◽

Native Hawaiians ◽

Social Barriers ◽

Community Engaged Research ◽

Adverse Health Outcomes

Health and well-being are a function of familial relationships between Native Hawaiians and their land. As a result of settler colonialism, Native Hawaiians face systemic and social barriers, which impede their relationship to land, with implications of adverse health outcomes. This qualitative study explores changes in health among Native Hawaiians, with a specific focus on food systems and the environment. Community-engaged research approaches were utilized to recruit 12 Hawaiian adults. The major themes include the following: (1) health as holistic and a harmonious balance, (2) nutrition transition and current connections to ‘āina (land extending from the mountain to the sea; that which feeds or nourishes), and (3) food sovereignty and community solutions to uplift the Lāhui (Nation of Hawai‘i). Consideration of cultural values, community strengths, and traditional lifestyle practices may address health inequities and changes in food systems related to health that stem from colonization, determinants of health, and environmental changes.

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AgrInvest-Food Systems Project – Political economy analysis of the Ethiopian food system

10.4060/cb3255en ◽

2021 ◽

Keyword(s):

Political Economy ◽

Food Systems ◽

Food System ◽

Political Economy Analysis ◽

Economy Analysis

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Balancing agri-food systems for optimal global nutrition transition

Sustainable Intensification in Smallholder Agriculture ◽

10.4324/9781315618791-16 ◽

2017 ◽

pp. 233-246

Author(s):

Linley Chiwona-Karltun ◽

Leif Hambraeus ◽

Friederike Bellin-Sesay

Keyword(s):

Food Systems ◽

Nutrition Transition ◽

Global Nutrition

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Towards a Critical Political Economy of Global Health

The Oxford Handbook of Global Health Politics ◽

10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190456818.013.29 ◽

2018 ◽

pp. 468-490

Author(s):

Ted Schrecker

Keyword(s):

Political Economy ◽

Food Systems ◽

Structural Adjustment ◽

Dispute Settlement ◽

Case Examples ◽

Transnational Actors ◽

Global North ◽

North And South ◽

Trade And Investment

This chapter begins with a conception of political economy that foregrounds unequal distributions of power and resources and the role of transnational actors and processes. Two specific case examples are described in some detail: (1) the structural adjustment conditionalities demanded by the international financial institutions roughly post-1980 and their impacts on health systems and social determinants of health and (2) the connections between trade and investment liberalization and health outcomes, with a focus on harmonization of intellectual property protection regimes, on food systems, and generically of the incorporation of investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) mechanisms in many bilateral and regional agreements. The chapter concludes by identifying two directions for future inquiry: the erosion of familiar distinctions between global North and South and the normative implications of the proliferation of cross border influences on health.

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Nutrition Transition and Climate Risks in Nigeria: Moving Towards Food Systems Policy Coherence

Current Environmental Health Reports ◽

10.1007/s40572-020-00292-3 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 7 (4) ◽

pp. 392-403

Author(s):

Alexandra E. Morgan ◽

Jessica Fanzo

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Health Outcomes ◽

Food Systems ◽

Food System ◽

Nutrition Transition ◽

Policy Environment ◽

Policy Coherence ◽

Double Burden ◽

Planetary Health ◽

Climate Risks

Abstract Purpose of Review The purpose of this review is to describe the combined impacts of the nutrition transition and climate change in Nigeria and analyze the country’s national food-related policy options that could support human and planetary health outcomes. Recent Findings This paper uses a food systems framework to analyze how the nutrition transition and climate change interact in Nigeria affecting both diets and the double burden of malnutrition, resulting in what has been termed the syndemic. Interactions between climate change and the nutrition transition in Nigeria are exacerbating diet-related inequities and will continue to do so if food systems continue on their current trajectory and without significant transformation. Siloed policy actions that attempt to mitigate one aspect of food system risk can create a negative feedback loop in another aspect of the food system. Our analysis finds that Nigeria has five national policies that include actionable steps to address food system insufficiencies; however, each of these policies is constrained by the boundaries of singular nutrition, climate change, and agricultural objectives. The country should consider a coherent policy environment that explicitly identifies and links underlying systemic and institutional drivers between climate change and malnutrition that simultaneously and comprehensively address both human and planetary health outcomes of food systems. Summary The systemic and institutional outcomes of this emerging syndemic—undernutrition, obesity, and climate change—are inexorably linked. Nigeria lacks a coherent policy environment taking on this challenging syndemic landscape. The analysis in this paper highlights the need for Nigeria to prioritize their national nutrition and agricultural and climate policies that uncouple feedback loops within food systems to address climate change and malnutrition in all its forms.

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Re-Regulating Loncheras, Food Trucks, and their Clientele: Navigating Bureaucracy and Enforcement in New Orleans

Gastronomica The Journal of Food and Culture ◽

10.1525/gfc.2018.18.3.1 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 18 (3) ◽

pp. 1-13 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Sarah Fouts

Keyword(s):

Political Economy ◽

Hurricane Katrina ◽

New Orleans ◽

Critical Analysis ◽

Immigrant Communities ◽

Food Trucks ◽

Immigration Legislation ◽

Cultural Legitimacy ◽

National Trends ◽

Mobile Food Vendors

After Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, newly arrived loncheras, or taco trucks, provided an invaluable and overlooked service, feeding cleanup crews and reconstruction workers. Yet despite the important role these Latinx food vendors continue to fill and their growing popularity among the non-Latinx community, these entrepreneurs face challenges in accessing political and cultural legitimacy. Situating the experiences of lonchera vendors within the larger political economy of U.S. immigration legislation and food truck policy demonstrates how national trends, instead of local realities, are used to shape policies that impact these food vendors. This article uses an ethnographic framework based in New Orleans to argue that the regulation of loncheras maps onto the criminalization of immigrant communities through an emphasis on licensing and documentation. Juxtaposing the case studies of two mobile food vendors, Mateo and Magda—both undocumented—allows for a critical analysis of the ways immigrants navigate bureaucratic systems to make ends meet.

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The ongoing nutrition transition thwarts long-term targets for food security, public health and environmental protection

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-020-75213-3 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Benjamin Leon Bodirsky ◽

Jan Philipp Dietrich ◽

Eleonora Martinelli ◽

Antonia Stenstad ◽

Prajal Pradhan ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Environmental Change ◽

Food Systems ◽

Nutrition Transition ◽

Household Waste ◽

Food Demand ◽

World Population ◽

Health Food ◽

Animal Source Foods ◽

Animal Source

AbstractThe nutrition transition transforms food systems globally and shapes public health and environmental change. Here we provide a global forward-looking assessment of a continued nutrition transition and its interlinked symptoms in respect to food consumption. These symptoms range from underweight and unbalanced diets to obesity, food waste and environmental pressure. We find that by 2050, 45% (39–52%) of the world population will be overweight and 16% (13–20%) obese, compared to 29% and 9% in 2010 respectively. The prevalence of underweight approximately halves but absolute numbers stagnate at 0.4–0.7 billion. Aligned, dietary composition shifts towards animal-source foods and empty calories, while the consumption of vegetables, fruits and nuts increases insufficiently. Population growth, ageing, increasing body mass and more wasteful consumption patterns are jointly pushing global food demand from 30 to 45 (43–47) Exajoules. Our comprehensive open dataset and model provides the interfaces necessary for integrated studies of global health, food systems, and environmental change. Achieving zero hunger, healthy diets, and a food demand compatible with environmental boundaries necessitates a coordinated redirection of the nutrition transition. Reducing household waste, animal-source foods, and overweight could synergistically address multiple symptoms at once, while eliminating underweight would not substantially increase food demand.

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Secular Trends in Food Patterns of Guatemalan Consumers: New Foods for Old

Food and Nutrition Bulletin ◽

10.1177/156482650802900404 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 29 (4) ◽

pp. 278-287 ◽

Cited By ~ 21

Author(s):

Odilia I. Bermudez ◽

Liza Hernandez ◽

Manolo Mazariegos ◽

Noel W. Solomons

Keyword(s):

Food Consumption ◽

21St Century ◽

Nutrition Transition ◽

Secular Trends ◽

Processed Foods ◽

Nutrient Intakes ◽

Food Items ◽

Food Patterns ◽

Food Variety ◽

Dietary Data

Background Food patterns of population groups change and adapt under the influence of several factors, including those related to globalization, urbanization, and the nutrition transition. Objective To document changes in food consumption and dietary patterns of Guatemalans, based on food surveys from the middle of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century. Methods We accessed archival dietary data from surveys conducted in nine rural or semirural traditional Guatemalan communities in the 1950s and from two studies of nonindigenous Guatemalans and Guatemalans of Mayan descent conducted after 1998. The total number and types of food items and the nutrient intakes from the two eras were compared. Results We identified 210 distinct food items across time, including 108 items consumed in traditional indigenous and nonindigenous Guatemalan communities (“old” foods), of which 72% were still consumed by nonindigenous Guatemalans and 76% were still consumed by Mayan Guatemalans. Processed foods represented only 11% of the items consumed in traditional Guatemalan communities but 30% of those consumed by nonindigenous Guatemalans and 25% of those consumed by Mayan Guatemalans. The proportions of carbohydrates, fats, and proteins as percentages of total energy were 79:9:12 among traditional Guatemalan communities, 67:20:13 among nonindigenous Guatemalans, and 61:27:12 among Mayan Guatemalans. Conclusions Changes in Guatemalan food patterns and in nutrient intakes are marked by increased food variety, at the expense of reduction in the consumption of nutrient-dense foods and increase in the consumption of processed foods. Such changes are consistent with those observed in other societies, where a combination of forces associated with demographic, epidemiologic, and nutritional transitions is occurring within the dynamics of urbanization and globalization phenomena that characterize contemporary times.

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“Now we’ve all turned to Eating Processed Foods”: A Photovoice Study of the Food and Nutrition Security Implications of ‘Galamsey’ in Ghana

10.21203/rs.3.rs-832447/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Hanson Nyantakyi-Frimpong ◽

Aaron Kobina Christian ◽

John Ganle ◽

Richmond Aryeetey

Keyword(s):

Crop Production ◽

Food Systems ◽

Agricultural Land ◽

Food Prices ◽

Primary Data ◽

Small Scale ◽

Eastern Region ◽

Processed Foods ◽

Mining Communities ◽

Food And Nutrition

Abstract Small-scale mining, referred to as galamsey in Ghana, is an important source of income for many rural populations. Although concerns have been raised in the media about the significant threats galamsey poses to the environment, health, and livelihoods, there is a representational paucity of evidence regarding its links with local food systems, particularly from the perspective of affected mining communities. The current study explored community perceptions and experiences of galamsey and its perceived effects on food security and livelihoods in the East Akyem Municipality in the Eastern region of Ghana. Primary data was collected using photovoice, photo exhibition, and interviews. Results show that galamsey has Resulted in degradation of, otherwise, fertile agricultural land, and contamination of freshwater sources. This has resulted in reduced cultivable land, reduced crop production, shortage of essential staple foods, increases in food prices, and increased consumption of ultra-processed foods. There is also perception of increased exposure to heavy metals like mercury in locally produced food. Given the adverse health consequences of both food/nutrition insecurity, and increased consumption of processed foods, it is important that public and policy discussions to minimize the effects of galamsey in Ghana should include considerations about food and nutrition insecurity in mining communities.

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