Sustainability: Science, Practice, & Policy (Nov 2013)

Sustainable food consumption: when evidence-based policy making meets policy-minded research—Introduction to the special issue

  • Gerd Scholl,
  • Lucia Reisch,
  • Michal Sedlacko

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 9, no. 2
pp. 1 – 6

Abstract

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We are witnessing today the disturbing situation of about 800 million people worldwide suffering hunger and underconsumption of food and lacking access to clean drinking water. At the same time, more than a billion people are overweight and 300 to 500 million of them obese, with the trend increasing in most regions. Consequently, due primarily to shifts in diet toward more sugar, animal protein, and trans fats, diet- and lifestyle-related health problems, such as cardiovascular diseases and diabetes, are hitting young age groups and significantly increasing health costs. Given demographic changes and the growing global population, these problems will likely worsen in the near future.

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