ABSTRACT
We live in a world capable, in principle, of providing a diverse and healthy diet for all, and yet one quarter of its people suffer from frequent hunger and ill health generated by a diet that is poor in quantity or quality or both. Another quarter of the world’s population eats too much food, food that is often heavy with calories and low on nutrients (colloquially called ‘junk food’). This quarter of the world’s population risks diabetes and all of the other chronic illnesses generated by obesity. In Mexico, for example, 14 per cent of the population have diabetes, and in India, 11 per cent of city-dwellers over 15. 1 In the US it has been estimated that one-third of the children born in the year 2000 will develop diabetes-a truly sad prospect, given that most of this is entirely preventable. 2 Study after study in recent years has come to the conclusion that the single most important factor in human health is diet, and diet is something we can shape.
