PUBLIC HEALTH
OVERNUTRITION: A UK PUBLIC HEALTH CRISIS
Malnutrition is a huge health and human rights concern, with 800 million people in the world who are starving.1 ‘Mal’ from the French, translates into ‘bad’, so malnutrition literally translates into ‘bad nutrition’. Thus, malnutrition encompasses both undernutrition and, a more pressing issue in developed countries such as the UK, overnutrition, which includes overweight and obesity. Lifestyle diseases are non-communicable diseases, often exacerbated by lifestyle conditions or choices. Having risen substantially in prevalence in the last century,2 these are also known as ‘diseases of civilisation’ having arisen from the changes in modern society. In developed nations, we have the privilege of convenience foods and a breadth of food options. Commercialisation of food industries has engendered a shift towards processed and convenience foods, which are partly responsible for a change in a food environment that perhaps encourages less considered and mindful eating and more consumption of nutrient-sparse, high sugar, high fat and high salt products. The evolving human diet in itself may not be to blame, as this and a transition towards more sedentary lifestyles, where work and leisure are increasingly technologically, as opposed to labour directed, together have facilitated a culture in which more energy is often ingested than expended, leading ultimately to weight gain. CAN LIFESTYLE PLAY A PART?
It is very striking that certain communities, which have been historically isolated from trade with developing countries and commercial food corporations, have avoided lifestyle diseases until the introduction of convenience shops. One case study of the Arctic Inuit communities3 highlights that, whilst traditionally Inuit people consume a
very high fat and protein diet from the blubber of marine animals such as seals and whales – and some would associate high fat consumption with an increased risk of illnesses such as heart disease – the prevalence of noncommunicable disease was very low until convenience stores, akin to those in larger cities, were established as part of increased interactions and trade with the developing world. Another community, the Yakut, an indigenous Siberian population, has seen a prevalence of Type II diabetes rise4 with the onset of integration with the Eurasian market. Also, the first instance of documented obesity was recorded in another Arctic community, the Nenets in 2015.5,6 Further afield, a study which compared health outcomes of rural South Africans after trialling an American diet for 20 days, revealed that there were substantial changes to the gut microbiome and metabolome and changes in mucosal biomarkers, all of which indicate a heightened risk of developing cancer.7 Clearly, the adaptation of a Western diet influences the health outcomes of traditionally detached communities, not beneficially, but in quite the opposite direction.
Farihah Choudhury Health and Wellbeing Co-ordinator, University of Southampton Farihah is a Prospective Master’s student of Nutrition for Global Health. She is interested in public health nutrition, particularly in changing population health patterns as a result of dynamic food environments, food security and food waste, food poverty, food marketing and literacy.
REFERENCES Please visit the Subscriber zone at NHDmag.com
DEFINING OBESITY AND OVERWEIGHT
Obesity is defined as the build-up of excess adipose tissue. ‘Excess’ is defined according to the BMI guidelines www.NHDmag.com March 2019 - Issue 142
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