Food production costs cause health and environmental damages worth $10 trillion annually, according to the Guardian, citing the United Nations (UN).
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) cited poor diets as one of the main drivers of health conditions such as diabetes and cardiovascular diseases, all of which add up to the list of “hidden costs” of the industry – amassing up to $7.3 trillion, FAO said in its annual report.
According to David Laborde, director of the FAO agrifood economics division, poor diet in high-income countries is one reason that is being looked at, and while experts are scrambling to find ways to push for changes – low-income countries struggling with poverty and famine are overlooked.
“In Uganda, for example, the hidden cost of the agricultural system is 20% of GDP; 70% of that is linked to poverty,” said Laborde, per the Guardian.
Laborde argues the problem with countries getting richer is that they often resort to overly processed foods, high in sugar and fats.
“Twenty years ago, hunger and malnutrition were still common in many of today’s middle-income countries,” Laborde said. “Today we know that if you did not have enough to eat when you were growing up, you become more prone to diet-related diseases as an adult.”
Severe malnutrition or famine during childhood increased the risk of cardiovascular disease, impaired glucose metabolism, and metabolic syndrome (a group of illnesses including obesity, high blood pressure, and elevated blood sugar that raise the risk of heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes) in later life, according to a 2020 British Medical Journal study.
Low and middle-income countries face another issue, and that is the so-called “double burden of malnutrition,” which represents a combination of obesity (overnutrition) and stunting (undernutrition).
Tackling the issue of healthy diet “front and center” is the key for these countries to follow into the steps of wealthy economies, Laborde suggests.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), approximately 74% of deaths worldwide are caused by non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and 77% of these happen in low and middle-income countries.
Although NCDs cause 70–85% of deaths in Latin America, the region has emerged as a global leader in the adoption of prevention measures.
“Just this week, Colombia has started implementing taxation not only on sugary drinks but also junk food,” said Liz Arnanz, from NCD Alliance, a global organization fighting NCDs.
Laborde noted that there’s no one-solution-fits-all approach that would end the crisis, but that it’s rather multifaceted – “in some cases it’s education, in others, school feeding programs. We can do a lot, but not if we oversimplify.”
