ABSTRACT
Food systems determine food accessibility, affordability and quality, including diversity, of diets. Malnutrition arising in nutrition transitions brings food policy success, failures, contradictions and unintended outcomes into sharp focus. The global food system has evolved to supply caloric, energy needs, to produce raw materials for highly processed foods and for animal feeds, not balanced, nutritious diets of culturally appropriate fresh food. ‘Obesogenic’ (promoting obesity) environments are shaped by economic policies rather than dietary preferences, health priorities or local culture. In low-income countries, these may be reinforced by outdated policies fixated on ensuring adequate energy supplies, while failing to promote food quality and dietary diversity. A better understanding of structural factors that reinforce inequitable patterns of scarcity and (over)abundance in food systems should inform food security and nutrition policy.
