Past, Present and Future
In this section I’m going to talk about malnutrition. Sometimes with this word we relate only lack of food, but it can be also an excess, deficiencies in vitamins and other micronutrients, all those related with diseases.
The combination of the rapid nutrition transition with rapidly declining share of expenditure on food as percent of total expenditure/income, urbanization, the shift in diet towards more animal products, and the phenotypic and genotypic predisposition towards a more efficient metabolism and NCDs (Non Communicable Diseases) could spark a rapid increase in the prevalence of obesity and NCDs over the next 30 years.
For many the exit out of food-poverty may be associated with a straight entry into health-poverty. This means that, while fewer people will suffer from hunger and chronic undernourishment, more will have health problems related to obesity and NCDs [44].