As most people who take time out of their busy lives to read through any of the posts on this web site are at least in principle interested about the role of nutrition in the delivery of health – I thought this may be of interest.
Chronic non infectious diseases account for the majority of deaths in the world, and in large part these are due to food selection and availability. PLOS medicine has decided to take a run at the industry and is publishing a series of papers on the insidious effects that the food industry is bringing down on humanity.[1]
The editor states
Food, unlike tobacco and drugs, is necessary to live and is central to health and disease. And yet the big multinational food companies control what people everywhere eat, resulting in a stark and sick irony: one billion people on the planet are hungry while two billion are obese or overweight.[2]
If you only have time to read one or two papers at this time – do make the effort to revist, at times when the global burden of disease is running into our arms – we still need to communicate with politicians, medics and peer groups that peoples food choice is not simply a transitory gustatory driven experience, but is one that shapes their day, week and future health risks and benefits.
Visit PLOS Medicine series on Big FOOD (www.ploscollections.org/bigfood)
[1] The PLoS Medicine series on Big Food View Papers
[2] Patel R (2008) Stuffed and Starved: The Hidden Battle for the World Food System. Melville House. 448 p.
