Post-green revolution food systems and the triple burden of malnutrition

• Published in: Food policy Vol. 42; pp. 129 - 138
• Main Authors: Gómez, Miguel I., Barrett, Christopher B., Raney, Terri, Pinstrup-Andersen, Per, Meerman, Janice, Croppenstedt, André, Carisma, Brian, Thompson, Brian
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ltd 01.10.2013; Elsevier Science Ltd
• Subjects: Agricultural productivity; Biofortification; Developing countries; Food; Food and agricultural systems; Food assistance programs; Food supply; Food value chains; Foods; Green Revolution; Indicators; LDCs; Malnutrition; Nutrition; Obesity; Policies; Strategy; Transformations; Trends; Food assistance programs; Agricultural productivity; Nutrition; Food and agricultural systems; Green Revolution; Biofortification; Food value chains
• ISSN: 0306-9192; 1873-5657
• DOI: 10.1016/j.foodpol.2013.06.009

•Changes in food systems require renewed strategies to reduce malnutrition.•We relate malnutrition indicators trends to food systems in developing countries.•We need to diversify research beyond boosting productivity of major staple crops.•We must research firm and consumer behavior to identify nutrition-improving interventions.•Public food assistance programs should carefully target the most vulnerable people. Developing country food systems have changed dramatically since the Green Revolution period. At the same time, malnutrition still represents a challenge and is now understood to encompass the three simultaneous dimensions of undernourishment, micronutrient deficiencies, and over-nutrition manifest in overweight and obesity. These changes in food systems and in the understanding of the global malnutrition challenge necessitate fresh thinking about food systems-based strategies to reduce malnutrition. This paper introduces a special section that offers such new perspectives. We discuss trends with respect to indicators of the triple burden of malnutrition to understand the extent of global malnutrition challenges and then relate those to food systems transformation in developing countries.