Diet and Health: Diseases and Food 271health to being central to the marketing of foodstuffs, and major public health
campaigns urged consumers to improve their diets.
This human health dimension is central to our critique of the Productionist
paradigm in two respects. First, even though global food production has increased
to meet caloric needs, its nutritional content may be less than desirable. Second,
food distribution remains deficient: nearly a billion people remain malnourished.
In this chapter, we explore the relationship between diet and the range of disease
and illnesses that are associated with food choices. We discuss, too, the existence of
gross inequalities within and between countries in the form of food poverty amidst
food abundance and wealth.
In late 2002 and 2003, a wave of new public health reports reminded the
world that diet is a major factor in the causes of death and morbidity. Although
deeply unpalatable to some sections of the food industry, these reports were sober
reminders of the enormity and scale of the public health crisis. The joint WHO
and FAO’s 2003 report on diet, nutrition and the prevention of chronic diseases
drew attention to high prevalence of diseases which could be prevented by better
nutrition, including:^2
- obesity;
- diabetes;
- cardiovascular diseases;
- cancers;
- osteoporosis and bone fractures;
- dental disease.
Of course, these diseases are not solely exacerbated by poor diet but also by lack of
physical activity. In truth, this report was only reiterating the story of nutrition’s
impact on public health that had been rehearsed for many years, and the evidence
for which was judged to be remarkably sound, but as Dr Gro-Harlem Brundtland,
then the Director-General of the WHO, stated in the report: ‘What is new is that
we are laying down the foundation for a global policy response.’ To this end, the
WHO set up an international consultation dialogue to prepare its global strategy
on diet, physical activity and health, scheduled to be launched in 2004. By inter-
national agency standards, this relatively speedy shift from evidence to policy mak-
ing indicates the real urgency of the problem. The draft strategy was launched
ahead of schedule in December 2003.^3
Already by 2002, the WHO had produced a major review of the national bur-
dens that such diseases cause. Of the top ten risk factors associated with non-
communicable diseases, food and drink contribute to eight (with the two
remaining – tobacco and unsafe sex – not associated with diet and food intake):^4
- blood pressure;
- cholesterol;
- underweight;