The Food Industry and Nutritional Health: In Concert or in Conflict?

William W. Riley*

The Food Industry and Nutritional Health: In Concert or in Conflict?

An interesting thing usually happens as a nation advances from “developing” to “developed”
status. Malnutrition for most individuals becomes a thing of the past. But this depends on what
type of “development” occurs. If development results in states similar to Scandinavia, New Zealand or Canada, then a relatively heavily taxed population provides a social safety net that guarantees at least the basic health and nutrition needs of the majority of the country’s population. It’s interesting to note that in annual surveys of the “Most Happy Nations” in the world, these countries generally appear at the top of the list. Perhaps not starving or being nutrient deficient is relatively high up on the list of “What makes me happy?” for most people.

In contrast, there are countries that develop through a more Darwinian approach, where there is little government or societal effort to divide the spoils of economic success. Instead, those who are able to, take as much of the spoils as they can, leaving others on the outside looking in these countries, the top 10-15% of the population controls the vast majority of the wealth, while the remaining 80-85% is split into a relatively small middle class and a large underclass of impoverished, undernourished people.

What is the result of this scenario from a health and nutrition perspective? Using the Philippines as an example, marginalized Filipinos suffer from a very high rate of both infant mortality and stunting of growth from malnutrition, while at the same time there is over-nutrition in the Metro Manila area–where the upper class tends to live. With over-nutrition comes a disease of excess–Type II diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, and cancer.

Adv Food Technol Nutr Sci Open J. 2016; 2(3): e3-e6. doi:10.17140/AFTNSOJ-2-e009

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