Implications of Rapid Changes in Diet to the Society
The type of diet one takes at every stage always affects the life cycle of a human being. There have been rapid changes in both nutrition and lifestyles that have happened with the growth of industries, economic development, urbanization, and market globalization in the recent past (Jurmain et al., 2016). The fast increasing change in diet has affected both the health and economy of the human populations either positively or negatively.
The type of food that is being consumed in contemporary society has affected the human population negatively. There has been an increase in lifestyle diseases. For instance, diabetes mellitus, cancer, and obesity; According to Popkin et al. (2013), it has been estimated that there will be 1.12 billion obese and 2.16 billion overweight adults by the year 2030, and high blood pressure. Secondly, the lifespan has been reduced, for example, due to the consumption of animal products and cereals that have high saturated fat and salt, leading to high blood pressure, which causes early deaths. On the contrary, rapid changes in the diet have affected the population positively. To begin with, improved standards of living; increase in food industries has led to employments, thus better-living conditions (Jurmain et al., 2016). Additionally, there has been an expansion in food availability and diversification.
Gaining knowledge in changes in dietary avails data that can be used in undertaking measures to mitigate the adverse effects of malnutrition. For instance, educate society on healthy eating and engaging in daily physical activities resulting in a healthy community. Besides, the information can be used in the health sector in guiding the production of drugs.
Conclusively, fast changes in diet have had its pros and cons to the human populations in contemporary society. This study provides essential information on managing lifestyle diseases. Human beings require to be sensitized on this matter of diet across the ages.
References
Jurmain, R., Kilgore, L., Trevathan, W., & Bartelink, E. (2016). Essentials of physical anthropology. Nelson Education.
Popkin, B. M., Adair, L. S., & Ng, S. W. (2012). Global nutrition transition and the pandemic of obesity in developing countries. Nutrition reviews, 70(1), 3-21.