Resources: THE NUTRITION TRANSITION
What is the Nutrition Transition?
University of North Carolina- Chapel Hill, Carolina Population Center
Large shifts in diet and lifestyle are occurring globally, as many lower-income countries abandon their traditional plant-based diets in favor of dietary patterns high in meat, saturated fat, sugar, and refined foods - often termed the "Western diet”. Likewise, morbidity and mortality in lower and moderate income countries are shifting from communicable diseases relating to malnutrition to diseases of abundance (such as heart disease, diabetes and obesity), the leading causes of death in high-income countries such as the U.S. The Nutrition Transition: Worldwide Obesity Dynamics and Their Determinants
Popkin BM and Gordon-Larsen P. Int’l Journal of Obesity. 2004) Nov;28, Suppl 3:S2–S9
This paper explores the major changes in diet and physical activity patterns around the world and focuses on shifts in obesity. It shows that changes are occurring at great speed and at earlier stages of the economic and social development of each country. The burden of obesity is shifting towards the poor.
A Nutrition Paradox: Underweight and Obesity in Developing Countries
This April, 2005 editorial published in the New England Journal of Medicine by Dr. Benjamin Caballero, director of the JHSPH Center for Human Nutrition, discusses the challenging co-existence of malnourishment and overweight within the same countries, communities and even families. FOCUS: The Developing World’s New Burden: Obesity
Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO)
“Obesity in the developing world can be seen as a result of a series of changes in diet, physical activity, health and nutrition, collectively known as the 'nutrition transition.' As poor countries become more prosperous, they acquire some of the benefits along with some of the problems of industrialized nations. These include obesity.” 
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