The Nutrition Transition in Low-Income Countries: An Emerging Crisis

Scientists have long recognized the importance of the demographics and epidemiologic transitions in higher income countries. Only recently has it become understood that similar sets of broadly based changes are occurring in lower income countries. What has not been recognized is that concurrent changes in nutrition are also occurring, with equally important implications for resource allocation in many low-income countries. Several major changes seem to be emerging, leading to a marked shift in the structure of diet and the distribution of body composition in many regions of the world: a rapid reduction in fertility and aging of the population, rapid urbanization, the epidemiologic transition, and economic…