The nutrition transition in Cuba in the nineties: an overview

Abstract

Objective: To describe and analyse the changes in diet, physical activity and body composition of the Cuban population during the 1990s and the health implications of these changes. Design and setting: Data on national food balance and physical activity are from government agencies and the Ministry of Public Health; nation-wide and local representative surveys were used to analyse body composition and leisure activities. Data on morbidity and mortality are from the Ministry of Public Health. Results: The collapse of the European socialist countries and the Soviet Union, as well as the reinforced United States' blockade, provoked a sudden shortage of fuel, raw materials, imported foods and essential supplies. Per capita energy availability decreased, physical activity increased, and the prevalence of obesity decreased. Nutrition deficiencies were observed in the early 1990s, while the trend of morbidity from non-communicable disease continued to increase. The nutrition transition characteristics following the economic recovery in 1995 -1996 resembled those of the 1980s because of the increased food availability, decreased physical activity and increased obesity prevalence. Conclusions: Programmes to deal with the complex situation generated a response in a remarkably short time. Undesirable changes in diet composition and the reduction of physical activity constitute a challenge in the current post-critical stage that must be prevented.

A shift in the epidemiology of low body mass index in Brazilian adults

“…This transition has been observed in countries from Latin America (Monteiro et al, 2002;Rodriguez-Ojea et al, 2002), Asia (Du et al, 2002;Shetty, and Africa (Benjelloun, 2002;Bourne et al, 2002;Ghassemi et al, 2002). Changes in food supply and activity patterns have occurred likewise in Western countries, where they are also associated with increases in BMI.…”

Degrowth and public health in Cuba: lessons from the past?

“…Over 10,000 state establishments selling subsidized meals virtually disappeared. Between 1989 and 1993 average calorie intake declined by 32 percent (Wright, 2009;Rodríguez-Ojea et al, 2002). Cuba thus faced the multiple challenges not only of finding alternative production mechanisms for food for its population in ways that broke with familiar methods of the last decades but, lacking fuels and imported resources, to do so in decentralized a manner all over the country and on the cheap with locally available resources (Altieri et al, 1999).…”

Which factors confound or modify the relationship between body weight and mortality?

“…Consequently, weight loss of 15 pounds was observed, which was consistent across the population. [16][17][18] As shown in Figure 4, the BMI of the population in 1995 (at the height of the special period), was shifted uniformly downward across the entire distribution compared to 1991 (during the special period); by 2000, after the economy had recovered, the curve had shifted back to the right. Mortality attributable to diabetes dropped precipitously during the latter half of the special period, although it had been trending upward in the 1980s ( Figure 5).…”