Download Nutrition, Food Supplies

Nutrition, Food Supplies
World food supply 1960-1998
Asia
Relative
food
production
by regions
Lat Amer
World
Africa
Former
Soviet
Union
Nutrition, Food Supplies
• Sub-Saharan Africa:
food production has
not kept pace with
rapid population
growth
(reasons: Droughts,
War, Poverty, govt
mismanagement)
• In sub-Sahara, 35 out
of 40 countries had
decreasing food
production last 20
years
Nutrition, Food Supplies
In richer countries, the most common dietary problem
is over-nutrition (too many calories).
Average daily caloric
intake in North America
and Europe is 3,500
calories (2770/day
needed for healthy,
active life)
http://www.nordictrack.com/cgibin/ncommerce3/ExecMacro/product/nt/product_v4.d2w/report?prmenbr=153&prrfnbr=105197&cgrfnbr=46526&rootcat
=46525
Meat Consumption
Avg Person in:
Lbs of meat/yr
US
Italy
Japan
247
170
90.5
Egypt
31
India
4.5
Importance of Diet
• At least half of all Americans are considered
overweight (about 1/3 are obese).
• Strong correlation between cardiovascular
disease and the amount of salt and animal fat in
one’s diet
• Fruits, vegetables, whole grains, complex
carbohydrates, and dietary fiber have beneficial
health effects.
• Eating too much food has negative effects on
health.
Obesity - The most common dietary problem in
wealthy countries is over-nutrition.
Eating a
Balanced
Diet
USDA Food
Pyramid
The Challenge of Choosing Foods – Variety!
Nutrition, Food Supplies
• Asia has experienced
the most rapid increase
in crop production
(esp. China, Indonesia
tripled food production
in less than decade).
• Ex. In Indonesia, in 4
years had worlds
biggest rice reserves
from being worlds
biggest importer of rice
Malaysia, palm oil
Food Security
• Food security - the ability to obtain sufficient
food on a day-to-day basis
• About 800 million people are chronically hungry (200
million are children) – 1 in 5 in developing world.
• Chronic undernourishment in children leads to:
permanently stunted growth, mental retardation, other
social and developmental disorders.
• Higher incidence of infectious diseases when
undernourished.
• Poverty is the greatest threat to food security.
• Within families that don’t get enough to eat, women and
children have the poorest diets.
Countries at risk for food shortages –
high risk in orange color, low risk in white
Greatest risk: sub-Sahara Africa, Southeast & South
Asia, parts of Latin America.
Little risk: US, Canada, Europe, Japan, Australia
Essential Nutrients
• Malnourishment - a nutritional imbalance caused
by a lack of specific dietary components or an
inability to utilize essential nutrients
• Richer countries eat too much meat, salt, fat and
not enough fiber, vitamins etc since foods are so
processed
• The number of people with allergies has gone up
and has not been helped by the chemicals
(hormones) used to speed up the rate at which
animals accumulate biomass (the food source).
Essential Nutrients
• Starchy foods like corn and polished rice
tend to be low in several essential
nutrients
• Protein deficiency diseases kwashiorkor, marasmus
• Iron deficiency - anemia - most severe in
India
• Iodine deficiency - goiter,
hyperthyroidism
WHY DO DEFICIENCIES EXIST?
goiter
kwashiorkor
marasmus
http://www.healthcentral.com/mhc/img/img1164.cfm
Famines: Some Causes
• Environmental
conditions - drought,
insects, natural
disasters
• National politics corruption,
oppression
• Armed conflict
• Economics - price
gouging, poverty,
landlessness
Dealing with
Underlying
Causes of
Famine?
Famine causes
people to use
up their
productive
capacity
(killing
The aid policies of rich countries often
their animals,
serve to: get rid of surplus food
eating stored
without dealing with root causes of
grains), mass
starvation; set up feeding camps –
not deal with growing own crops, etc. migrations
To help feed the entire world?
• New foods? Eg,
– insects (microlivestock),
58-75% protein by weight,
3-4x protein-rich as beef, fish or eggs,
– Winged beans (tropical legume),
many edible parts so called
“supermarket on the stalk”
• GMO???
Transgenic Crop Field Releases
World Health Organization
studies in 2002
1. 20 questions on Genetically Modified Foods:
Conclusion by WHO is that the environmental safety
aspects of GM crops vary considerably according to
local conditions
2. Preventing Risks, Promoting Healthy Life:
Top 10 Risks are Tobacco, alcohol, unsafe water,
sanitation & hygiene, high cholesterol, indoor smoke
from solid fuels, childhood & maternal underweight,
unsafe sex, high blood pressure, iron deficiency, &
overweight/obesity
In summary:
• A poor environment will contribute to a
poor diet and negatively affect nutrition
(and too much can also be bad).
• Poor nutrition may contribute to diseases
& their emergence.
• Also social factors (govts, war, policy,
economics, etc) may affect nutrition and
hence diseases.
• Global organizations have been developed
to help solve these global problems.
CH 8 - Environmental Health &
Toxicology
In some parts of Eastern Europe and the former USSR, up
to 90% of all children suffer from environmentally linked
diseases.
What is Health?
• The World Health Organization defines
health: state of complete physical, mental,
& social well-being –
not just absence of disease.
• Disease - a deleterious change in the
body’s condition in response to an
environmental factor
• Morbidity – illness or disease
• Mortality – death rate
Eg: Tuberculosis
Deforestation
causes insect
vectors to
move to cities
Morbidity and Quality of Life in
Poor Households
Problems
occurring when
people live in
crowded
conditions.
New global
mega cities
where
managing
human
generated
wastes is poor,
etc