Nourish people, nurture the planet

Abstract

The world is witnessing shifts in dietary patterns with extremes of hunger and excess weight, forcing us all to make healthy and sustainable diets affordable and accessible to everyone, and to reflect on what we eat. This was the theme for this year’s UN World Food Day marked yesterday: ‘Our Actions Are Our Future. Healthy Diets for a #zerohunger World’, which calls for action across every sector. Conversations on healthy diets at international ministerial meetings, with NGOs, or even in schools, no longer focus solely on what and how much to eat for sustenance, but also on the larger food system and its impacts on human and planetary health. FAO statistics show that, on a global level, more than 670 million adults and 120 million boys and girls aged five to 19 are obese, while over 40 million children under five are overweight. [excerpt]