Page 265 - Environment: The Science Behind the Stories

1000 60 400 General decline in
prices since the 1970s
900
50
Millions of people in developing nations who are undernourished 700 Number of people 35 Percentage of people in developing nations who are undernourished FAO Food Price Index, adjusted for inflation 250 since 2002
350
800
Upswing in prices
40
300
undernourished
30
600
200
25
500
150
400
20
100
300
200
10
0
undernourished
100 Percentage of people 15 50 1961 1968 1975 1982 1989 1996 2003 2010
5
Year
0 0 Figure 10.3 Food has become less costly over the past half-
1990–1992 1999–2001 2004–2006 2010–2012 century, but prices have been rising since 2002. Data from U.N.
2007–2009
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
Year
to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Figure 10.2 The number and the percentage of people in the Obesity leads to cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and other
developing world who suffer undernutrition have each been health problems, shortening people’s lives, impairing their
declining. Data from Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations,
2012. The state of food insecurity in the world, 2012. FAO, Rome. quality of life, and imposing health care costs on society.
Lower-income people in wealthy societies often suffer
Explain how the percentage of undernourished people can overnutrition the most, because many rely on inexpensive
have decreased since 2007–2009 while the absolute mass-marketed foods that are calorie-rich but nutrient-poor.
number of undernourished people stayed the same.
However, people of all income levels are eating more pro-
cessed energy-rich foods that are high in fat and sugar yet low
in nutrition, and they are getting less exercise. Worldwide,
Political obstacles, conflict, and inefficiencies in distribution the World Health Organization estimates that over 1.4 billion
contribute significantly to hunger as well. adults are overweight and that of these, at least 500 million
Most people who are undernourished live in the develop- are obese. Nearly two of every three people live in countries
ing world. However, hunger is a problem even in the United where being overweight causes more deaths each year than
States, where the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) being underweight.
has classified 50 million Americans as “food insecure,” lack- Just as the quantity of food a person eats is important for
ing the income required to reliably procure sufficient food. health, so is the quality of food. Malnutrition, a shortage of
Agricultural scientists and policymakers worldwide pursue nutrients the body needs, occurs when a person fails to obtain
a goal of food security, the guarantee of an adequate, safe, a complete complement of vitamins and minerals. Malnu-
nutritious, and reliable food supply available to all people at trition can easily lead to disease (Figure 10.4). For example,
all times. people who eat a diet that is high in starch but deficient in
Globally, the number of people suffering from undernu- protein or essential amino acids (p. 47) can develop kwashi-
trition has been falling since the 1960s. Moreover, the per- orkor. Children who have recently stopped breast-feeding
centage of people who are undernourished has also fallen are most at risk for developing kwashiorkor, which causes
substantially (Figure 10.2). These encouraging trends have
slowed in recent years due to economic recession and global Figure 10.4 Millions of children suffer from forms of malnu-
spikes in food prices. We have a long way to go to eliminate trition, such as kwashiorkor and marasmus.
hunger, but we can rightly celebrate our progress so far.
We have managed to reduce hunger in part because prices
for food have become lower through the years (Figure 10.3),
making food more accessible for poor families. (Many house-
holds in developing nations spend as much as 70% of their
budget on food.) However, food prices have been rising since
2002, so to guarantee food security we will need to limit fur-
ther price increases.
Although 870 million people lack access to adequate
food, many others consume more than is healthy and suffer
from overnutrition, receiving too many calories each day.
Overnutrition is a problem in developed nations such as the
United States, where food is abundant, junk food is cheap, and
people tend to lead sedentary lives with little exercise. As a
264 result, more than one in three U.S. adults are obese, according

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