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Inequalities In Shares Of World Food Production

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DR. JEAN MAYER

, Associate Professor of Nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health.]

We read much nowadays about inequalities in production and distribution of farm produce. Surpluses are accumulating in some of the exporting areas to such an extent that even storage becomes a prohibitive item of expense and outlandish solutions such as Arctic storage have to be envisaged. A greater number of countries—and bigger populations—are faced with a chronically insufficient agricultural production and lack the means to buy the commodities necessary to maintain consumption at a desirable level. As infectious diseases become better and better controlled, two things, lack of food and the eating of the wrong kinds of food, are emerging as the greatest causes of disease is poor underdeveloped areas, and in rich countries over - eating contributes to the ever-increasing toll exacted by the degenerative diseases.

and help himself end thus are self perpetuating. This health problem is thus, in the laat analysis. a problem in education, in agricultural production and in economics. At the other end of the scale there is growing recogniton in prosperous Western countries that obesity is a threat to health and that it is becoming more prevalent The main causes of this increase seem to be twofold. On the one hand there is much more food available, particularly concentrated, processed food of considerable energy-giving content and on the other hand, there is much more labour-saving mechanisation which makes expenditure of energy in physical work less and less necessary. Recent findings indicate that, as physical work decreases to low levels, appetite does not follow suit and individuals continue to consume a quantity of food in excess of their needs and as a result become fat. It has been shown that obesity is associated with a very much increased incidence of the middleage type of diabetes and with liver diseases. Pronounced overweight seems to increase the number of deaths from diseases of the heart and blood vessels, which are the most frequent causes of death in Western societies. Obesity seems also to Increase directly the risks inherent in any surgical intervention, particularly in the abdominal region. Apart from its action in promoting disease, there is very little doubt that obesity impairs physical fitness and that its adverse effects on the appearance of afflicted Individuals can be the cause of considerable mental suffering. particularly in young women. Heart Disease In the last few years it has also been shown that, just as the eating of too little protein foods may have as serious consequences as taking in too little of the energy-providing foods, so the eating of too much fat may be of equal or greater import than overeating of the merely energy-pro-viding foods. Recent work suggests that death from heart disease is closely linked to the over-eating of fats, particularly hard fats, which have tended to represent an ever-in-creasing proportion of the diet of prosperous Western nations. Thus it 'may appear that one part of the world' is still suffering from hunger and malnutrition while another part literally "eat» Itself to death.” Prevention of these two extremes entails greater •understanding, on the part of both individuals and of governments, of sound nutrition, of nutrition education, and of nutrition planning. It is also to be hoped that. In the economic sphere, solutions will be found which will permit the moving of food from surplus areas and overfed populations to poor areas and underfed populations.

The two dangers, consumption of an insufficient amount of food, and consumption of a diet lacking in indispensable elements (such as vitamins), are generally found together. Both are detrimental to health almost to the same extent. Under-Eating In spite of what has often been said, there is little bodily adaptation to under-feeding. What is unconsciously done by the undernourished individual to conserve his substance is more generally behavioural, social adaptation—excessively prolonged sleep, torpor, inertia, and lack of initiative follow prolonged undereating. These effects in turn eliminate or at least drastically decrease the ability of the subject to work

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19570427.2.196

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28262, 27 April 1957, Page 13

Word count
Tapeke kupu
676

Inequalities In Shares Of World Food Production Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28262, 27 April 1957, Page 13

Inequalities In Shares Of World Food Production Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28262, 27 April 1957, Page 13

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