Food (in)security and (un)healthy diet on the (difficult) road to zero hunger: Celebrating the World Food Day

Abstract

The worldwide prevalence of undernourishment and food insecurity has been steadily increasing in recent years, despite the United Nations’ Zero Hunger target by 2030. At the same time, unhealthy diets represent a major cause of diet-related non-communicable diseases. This contributes to the global increase in overweight and obesity, the Janus of malnutrition. Major drivers of food insecurity are economic slowdowns and downturns (further exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic), conflict and food crisis, poverty and inequality, and climate-related natural disasters. In this scenario, transformation of food systems will be pivotal to address these drivers of food insecurity, malnutrition, and unaffordability of healthy diets. Keywords: prevalence of undernourishment, malnutrition, Sustainable Development Goals, food systems, overweight, obesity, non-communicable diseases