Nutrition In Crisis

Almost every day it seems a new study is published that shows you are at risk for diabetes, cardiovascular disease, or death due to something you’ve just eaten for lunch. Many of us no longer know what to eat or who to believe. In Nutrition in Crisis distinguished biochemist Richard Feinman, PhD, cuts through the noise, explaining the intricacies of nutrition and human metabolism in accessible terms. He lays out the tools you need to navigate the current confusion in medical literature and its increasingly bizarre reflection in the media. At the same time, Nutrition in Crisis offers an unsparing critique of the nutritional establishment, which continues to demonize fat and refute the benefits of low-carbohydrate and ketogenic diets—all despite decades of evidence to the contrary. Feinman tells the story of the first low-carbohydrate revolution fifteen years ago, how it began, what killed it, and why a second revolution is now reaching a fever pitch. He exposes the backhanded tactics of a regressive nutritional establishment that ignores good data and common sense, and highlights the innovative work of those researchers who have broken rank. Entertaining, informative, and irreverent, Feinman paints a broad picture of the nutrition world: the beauty of the underlying biochemistry; the embarrassing failures of the medical establishment; the preeminence of low-carbohydrate diets for weight loss, diabetes, other metabolic diseases, and even cancer; and what’s wrong with the constant reports that the foods we’ve been eating for centuries represent a threat rather than a source of pleasure.

In 2007 and 2008, the world witnessed a dramatic increase in food prices. The global financial crisis that began in 2008 compounded the burden of high food prices, exacerbating the problems of hunger and malnutrition in developing countries. The tandem food price and economic crises struck amidst the massive, chronic problem of hunger and undernutrition in developing countries. National governments and international actors have taken a variety of steps to mitigate the negative effects of increased food prices on particular groups. The recent abrupt increase in food prices, in tandem with the current global economic crisis, threatens progress already made in these areas, and could inhibit future efforts. The Institute of Medicine held a workshop, summarized in this volume, to describe the dynamic technological, agricultural, and economic issues contributing to the food price increases of 2007 and 2008 and their impacts on health and nutrition in resource-poor regions. The compounding effects of the current global economic downturn on nutrition motivated additional discussions on these dual crises, their impacts on the nutritional status of vulnerable populations, and opportunities to mitigate their negative nutritional effects.

Every year, natural disasters, armed conflicts and other forms of crisis adversely affect the lives of millions of people in the developing world. In many countries, families are forced to abandon their homes, farms and villages; access to adequate food becomes difficult, and hardship contributes to high rates of malnutrition. This book offers guidance to program planners and technicians in the fields of nutrition, food security, agriculture and community development in adopting a longer-term perspective to addressing problems of household food insecurity and malnutrition during periods of crisis and recovery. It provides a framework for an implementation strategy that focuses on both saving lives in the short term and strengthening livelihood to ensure that households are less vulnerable to food and nutrition insecurity in the future.

The COVID-19 crisis in Myanmar poses a very serious risk to the nutritional status of vulnerable populations, notably women and children, as well as poor urban populations and internally displaced persons. The COVID-19 crisis will hit vulnerable groups through multiple mechanisms.

Two years after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the health, economic, and social disruptions caused by this global crisis continue to evolve. The impacts of the pandemic are likely to endure for years to come, with poor, marginalized, and vulnerable groups the most affected. In COVID-19 & Global Food Security: Two Years Later, the editors bring together contributions from new IFPRI research, blogs, and the CGIAR COVID-19 Hub to examine the pandemic’s effects on poverty, food security, nutrition, and health around the world. This volume presents key lessons learned on food security and food system resilience in 2020 and 2021 and assesses the effectiveness of policy responses to the crisis. Looking forward, the authors consider how the pandemic experience can inform both recovery and longer-term efforts to build more resilient food systems.

The answers for perfect teeth, unblemished skin, and pristine hair are in this book. Dr. Price was 75 years ahead of his time. In this book, he demonstrates that isolated groups of people living in accordance with Nature have the best overall physical and mental health. Diseases inflicting “modern” humans are unheard of in most of these study groups. Dr. Weston Andrew Price, DDS, was called the “Isaac Newton of Nutrition” and the “Darwin of Nutrition.” This edition of Dr. Price’s classic is modernized with the epub format. It is easier to read on smartphones and tablets. It also includes updated statistics and additional images. Dr. Price shows that illness, disease, behavior, criminality, anemia, voice, and even cheek-line, are all within the domain of Nutrition. “If civilized man is to survive, he must incorporate the fundamentals of primitive nutritional wisdom into his modern lifestyle.” —Dr. Weston A. Price, DDS

During the past decade, tremendous growth has occurred in the use of nutrition symbols and rating systems designed to summarize key nutritional aspects and characteristics of food products. These symbols and the systems that underlie them have become known as front-of-package (FOP) nutrition rating systems and symbols, even though the symbols themselves can be found anywhere on the front of a food package or on a retail shelf tag. Though not regulated and inconsistent in format, content, and criteria, FOP systems and symbols have the potential to provide useful guidance to consumers as well as maximize effectiveness. As a result, Congress directed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to undertake a study with the Institute of Medicine (IOM) to examine and provide recommendations regarding FOP nutrition rating systems and symbols. The study was completed in two phases. Phase I focused primarily on the nutrition criteria underlying FOP systems. Phase II builds on the results of Phase I while focusing on aspects related to consumer understanding and behavior related to the development of a standardized FOP system. Front-of-Package Nutrition Rating Systems and Symbols focuses on Phase II of the study. The report addresses the potential benefits of a single, standardized front-label food guidance system regulated by the Food and Drug Administration, assesses which icons are most effective with consumer audiences, and considers the systems/icons that best promote health and how to maximize their use.