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FAO: Future food systems must provide healthy and sustainable diets for all
10.06.2019 17:14 "Agro Perspectiva" (Kyiv) —
As of this week, an international symposium The Future of Food (Jun 1011) is held within Rome, FAO reports.
It is to be admitted, the symposium is aimed mainly to discuss the global problem of an unprecedented rise of obesity and diet-related non-communicable diseases, also in low- and middle-income countries. The symposium participants will try to answer the questions of what is wrong with our food systems and how will we feed a growing and urbanizing world population with natural resources that become more and more limited and depleted. This 2-day symposium will bring together academics, researchers, policymakers, representatives from civil society and private sector, parliamentarians and government agencies from all over the globe.
While speaking within the symposium, FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva said the food systems of the future must produce healthy and quality foods for all whilst preserving the environment. So, FAO Director-General called for a transformation of food systems to improve the people diets.
«We need to change our focus from producing more food to producing more healthy food,» he said.
He reminded thath the hunger is no longer the only major nutrition problem facing humanity.
As to him, now over 2 milliard adults aged 18 or more are overweight, of which more than 670 million are obese. Moreover, the boost of the prevalence of obesity between 2000 and 2016 has been faster than that of overweight at all age levels. Also, nearly 2 milliard people suffer from micronutrient deficiencies.
The FAO experts affirm the number of obese people worldwide will very soon overtake the number of people suffering from hunger, which currently accounts for about 820 million.
As to the experts, there are several factors driving the global pandemic of obesity and micronutrient deficiency, with the rapid urbanization being one of these factors.
Besides, another main driver is the high consumption of ultra-processed food, which is mainly based on artificial ingredients. It contains high levels of saturated fats, refined sugars, salt and chemical additives.
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