Obesity, malnutrition and food insecurity are complex and often connected challenges, but there are many innovative solutions helping to create a healthier and more equitable food system. Here we explore a selection of promising opportunities.
Obesity, malnutrition and food insecurity: the size of the challenge
Despite great progress and clear goals set out in the European Farm to Fork Strategy for healthier diets, the global challenges of obesity and malnutrition continue to accelerate while food insecurity grows. Some two billion people face food insecurity globally and, since 2014, these numbers have been rising dramatically (1).
Almost two billion adults and 380 million children and adolescents are also either overweight or obese globally (2), while 462 million adults are underweight and over 200 million children under five are wasted or stunted (3).
What is food insecurity?
Food insecurity is the state of living without reliable access to affordable, nutritious food. It can be linked to malnutrition, including overweight and obesity, primarily due to the types of food people have access to and the quality of their diets (4). Having a lack of financial or geographical means to have a regular, healthy diet, for example, could result in a person or family being food insecure.
Social exclusion, which refers to having a lack of participation in society via education, politics or economics for example, can also impact food security. One in four Europeans are at risk of poverty or social exclusion and almost 10% of the EU population are only able to afford a quality meal every second day (5).
On an episode of the Food Fight podcast, Professor Chris Elliott of Queen’s University Belfast said that the UN is issuing warnings about "the biggest crisis in the history of people being malnourished” due to severe inequalities in the current food system (6).
The different levels of food insecurity are categorised as people being either food secure, moderately food insecure or severely food insecure.
The solutions to obesity, malnutrition and food insecurity
The causes and drivers of obesity and malnutrition are complex, from medical reasons to food accessibility and poverty. However, when considering links to food insecurity, what are the solutions and agrifood innovations leading the way?
