According to this Telegraph article, a study by the Global Burden Disease and published by The Lancet, has revealed that triple the number of deaths result from obesity compared to malnutrition. Since 1990, death by malnutrition has been cut two-thirds, and in 2010 was at less than 1 million. Despite this success, we are now seeing a global population that is suffering in their later years due to too much food with little valuable nutrition. Rather than having the loss of children and the poor due to a lack of food, we are experiencing higher rates of chronic disease in the adult years.
Besides having a high body mass index, which is now ranked the 6th most important risk factor for death, globally people are also dying from high blood pressure, drinking, and smoking. In order to reduce disease risk, the article quotes a Professor Ezzati that people should have easier access to fresh fruits and vegetables and that sodium content of food should be regulated. It is such a simple fix, but why isn't it being implemented now?
With issues of free trade, inflation, low-income, and capitalism, it is not so easy to simply make it "easier" to buy produce and to set a limit to the use of salt. The world is stuck in a rut, where the poor and "middle" class are conditioned to consume cheap, low-quality food, and it's virtually impossible to change this behavior on a political level. There seems to be no easy answer, but awareness of the problem and a willingness to educate others and vote on related legislature is what can get the ball rolling, and hopefully that would lead to a snowball effect that can cause societal change on a global scale.
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