Latin America, once known for poverty and undernourishment, is now facing an obesity crisis that is linked to urbanisation, unsustainable agricultural development and the rising consumption of ultra-processed (and typically imported) food. Changing dietary patterns connected to mass urbanisation, rising average incomes and the integration of the region into international markets have reduced the consumption of traditional home-cooked foods and increased the consumption of processed products, with negative health consequences.
A new report from the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO), Panorama of Food and Nutritional Security in Latin America and the Caribbean 2016, warns that over one-half of the population of Latin America and the Caribbean, or 360m people, are now overweight. Furthermore, over one-fifth of the region’s population, or 140m people, are currently obese. Weight problems and obesity are particularly problematic among women and children. In more than 20 countries in the region, for instance, the rate of female obesity is 10 percentage points higher than that of men, while 4m children under the age of five are overweight.
Tipping the scales off balance
One of the worst-affected countries is Mexico, where two-thirds of the population are overweight and 32% are obese, a higher percentage than in the US. The Global Food Sustainability Index (FSI), developed by The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) with the Barilla Center for Food and Nutrition, similarly reflects Mexico’s major problem with weight and obesity. The country scores among the worst in the Index (22nd out of 25 countries analysed) for nutritional challenges, including the prevalence of sugar in diets, the number of people who eat in fast-food restaurants, the amount of physical activity, weekly screen time and the frequency of over-nourishment. Attempts by Mexico’s federal government to deal with the country’s obesity crisis through the introduction of a sugar tax on fizzy drinks, for example, have yet to show results in health indicators, such as the rate of diabetes.
According to the UN/PAHO report, 5.5% of the regional population remains undernourished, with the rural poor disproportionately affected. Stunting affected 11% of children in 2015, and 1.3% of children under the age of five suffer from wasting. A regional economic slowdown since 2013 has also eroded some of the gains made in the fight against poverty in the previous decade. PAHO’s director, Carissa F Etienne, notes that the region faces “a double burden of malnutrition”. She argues that this problem needs to be tackled by introducing balanced diets based on fresh, nutritious and sustainably produced food and by “addressing the main social factors determining malnutrition, such as lack of access to healthy food, water and sanitation, education and health services, and social protection programmes”.
The EIU’s research closely echoes the UN/PAHO findings on nutrition and makes a strong correlation between sustainable agriculture and nutrition rates. Notably, it finds that countries with more sustainable agriculture, such as Colombia, fare better in the FSI both for nutrition and for food loss and waste. Colombia scores highly (ninth) in the FSI for sustainable agriculture, reflecting, among other indicators, a strong performance for water management and environmental biodiversity. Along with an environmentally friendly (if not hugely diverse) agricultural output, it also scores fifth overall for its (relative) lack of micronutrient deficiencies and sits in the top five overall for overcoming nutritional challenges, including the prevalence of sugar in diets.
It is worth noting that while agriculturally rich, vast areas of Colombia have not yet been developed owing to the country’s half-century of internal armed conflict. Land reform and sustainable agricultural development feature strongly in the current peace process, but tensions remain over the future direction of policy governing agriculture and the natural resources of the country.
The biggest shortfalls
In contrast to Columbia, Argentina and Brazil are ranked in the bottom half of the overall index. Both score in the bottom ten for vitamin A deficiencies. Food loss is a further area of concern, with Brazil ranking 24th overall. According to PAHO estimates, some 127m tonnes of food are lost or wasted annually in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The current trajectory of regional agricultural growth is unsustainable, the UN/PAHO emphasises, not least due to its deleterious effect on local ecosystems and natural resources. In the FSI, for example, Brazil scores badly (22nd) for the environmental impact of its (non-diverse) agricultural sector on water. This is due to the heavy water footprint of its main crops and its major focus on livestock.
To ensure equitable access to food, it will be necessary to make the use of land and other natural resources more efficient and sustainable, to improve food production, storage and processing techniques, and to reduce food loss and waste.