Using research on the obesity pandemic as a guide to a unified vision of nutrition

Abstract

Objective: To focus on factors that play a major role in our rapid, global nutritional changes. Design: A range of studies are summarised: these show how an understanding of social, economic and technological change at the global, national and community levels affects diet, activity, and body composition patterns and trends. These studies are used to demonstrate the value of the key global, national, community, household and individual factors that should define the field of nutrition. Setting: The focus is global. Result: Large shifts have occurred in diet and in physical activity patternsparticularly in the last one or two decades of the twentieth century. These changes are reflected in nutritional outcomes such as changes in average stature, body composition and morbidity. Understanding the rapidity of these changes and the underlying factors at the global, national and community levels is critical for creating a science of nutrition that can prevent disease and sustain the health and integrity of humans. Conclusion: The vision of the nutrition field is one where scholars who work on many levels will intersect; equal weight in the nutrition profession will be provided to all dimensions as they are welcomed into the field of nutrition -particularly those that will directly or indirectly affect dietary patterns, physical activity patterns, and energetics. This vision of the nutrition field is one where scholars from a range of disciplines and perspectives meet to work together with the goal being a focus on improving nutritional status and the human condition.

Nutritional Status of Pupils Attending Public Schools with and without School Feeding Programme in Hohoe Municipality, Ghana

“…This finding seemed to follow the same patterns as adult over-nutrition in Ghana, which is higher among urban population than rural population [41]. This could be due to the changes in life style, diet, urbanization, and reduced active commuting to school, use of energy saving devices and increasing sedentary games such as computer games and television watching that creates an 'obesogenic' environment [42].…”

The interconnected challenges for food security from a food regimes perspective: Energy, climate and malconsumption

“…Indeed, biofuels production designed to enhance energy security in distant countries may well stake a superior claim to land than the cultivation of food staples to alleviate domestic hunger. Third, a concern with food output is not concerned with matters of diet or of nutritional security: it assumes the continued global projection of western dietary norms through the process of 'nutrition transition' (Popkin 2005).…”

Primary health care facility infrastructure and services and the nutritional status of children 0 to 71 months old and their caregivers attending these facilities in four rural districts in the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal provinces, South Africa

“…23 The number of overweight and obese adults is increasing and coexists with underweight children. This has been reported both in South Africa and globally, 17,24,25 indicating gaps in existing nutritional policies.…”