Nutrition

Anemia

  • Anemia is a major public health concern, mainly affecting young children, pregnant and postpartum women, and menstruating adolescent girls and women.

  • Low- and lower-middle-income countries bear the greatest burden of anemia, particularly affecting populations living in rural settings, in poorer households, and who have received no formal education.

  • Globally, it is estimated that 40% of all children aged 6–59 months, 37% of pregnant women, and 30% of women 15–49 years of age are affected by anemia.

  • Anaemia caused 50 million years of healthy life lost due to disability in 2019. The largest causes were dietary iron deficiency, thalassemia and sickle cell trait, and malaria (1).

Sodium reduction

  • Almost all populations are consuming too much sodium.

  • The global mean intake of adults is 4310 mg/day sodium (equivalent to 10.78 g/day salt) (1). This is more than double the World Health Organization recommendation for adults of less than 2000 mg/day sodium (equivalent to < 5 g/day salt).

  • The primary health effect associated with diets high in sodium is raised blood pressure and increased risk of cardiovascular diseases, gastric cancer, obesity, osteoporosis, Meniere’s disease, and kidney disease.

  • An estimated 1.89 million deaths each year are associated with consuming too much sodium (2).

  • Reducing sodium intake is one of the most cost-effective measures to improve health and reduce the burden of non-communicable diseases. For every US$ 1 invested in scaling up sodium reduction interventions, there will be a return of at least US$ 12.

Healthy Diet

  • A healthy diet helps to protect against malnutrition in all its forms, as well as noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), including diabetes, heart disease, stroke and cancer.

  • Unhealthy diet and lack of physical activity are leading global risks to health.

  • Healthy dietary practices start early in life – breastfeeding fosters healthy growth and improves cognitive development, and may have longer term health benefits such as reducing the risk of becoming overweight or obese and developing NCDs later in life.

  • Energy intake (calories) should be in balance with energy expenditure. To avoid unhealthy weight gain, total fat should not exceed 30% of total energy intake (1, 2, 3). Intake of saturated fats should be less than 10% of total energy intake, and intake of trans-fats less than 1% of total energy intake, with a shift in fat consumption away from saturated fats and trans-fats to unsaturated fats (3), and towards the goal of eliminating industrially-produced trans-fats (4, 5, 6).

  • Limiting intake of free sugars to less than 10% of total energy intake (2, 7) is part of a healthy diet. A further reduction to less than 5% of total energy intake is suggested for additional health benefits (7).

  • Keeping salt intake to less than 5 g per day (equivalent to sodium intake of less than 2 g per day) helps to prevent hypertension, and reduces the risk of heart disease and stroke in the adult population (8).

  • WHO Member States have agreed to reduce the global population’s intake of salt by 30% by 2025; they have also agreed to halt the rise in diabetes and obesity in adults and adolescents as well as in childhood overweight by 2025 (9, 10).

Malnutrition

  • Malnutrition, in all its forms, includes undernutrition (wasting, stunting, underweight), inadequate vitamins or minerals, overweight, obesity, and resulting diet-related noncommunicable diseases.

  • In 2022, 2.5 billion adults were overweight, including 890 million who were living with obesity, while 390 million were underweight.

  • Globally in 2022, 149 million children under 5 were estimated to be stunted (too short for age), 45 million were estimated to be wasted (too thin for height), and 37 million were overweight or living with obesity.

  • Nearly half of deaths among children under 5 years of age are linked to undernutrition. These mostly occur in low- and middle-income countries. The developmental, economic, social, and medical impacts of the global burden of malnutrition are serious and lasting, for individuals and their families, for communities, and for countries.

  • The developmental, economic, social, and medical impacts of the global burden of malnutrition are serious and lasting, for individuals and their families, for communities, and for countries.

Obesity

  • In 2022, 1 in 8 people in the world were living with obesity. 

  • Worldwide adult obesity has more than doubled since 1990, and adolescent obesity has quadrupled.

  • In 2022, 2.5 billion adults (18 years and older) were overweight. Of these, 890 million were living with obesity.

  • In 2022, 43% of adults aged 18 years and over were overweight and 16% were living with obesity.

  • In 2022, 37 million children under the age of 5 were overweight.

  • Over 390 million children and adolescents aged 5–19 years were overweight in 2022, including 160 million who were living with obesity.

Trans fat

  • Trans fat, or trans-fatty acids (TFA), are unsaturated fatty acids that come from either industrial or natural sources.

  • More than 278 000 deaths each year globally can be attributed to intake of industrially produced trans fat.

  • Trans fat clogs arteries, increasing the risk of heart attacks and deaths.

  • Industrially produced trans fat can be found in margarine, vegetable shortening, Vanaspati ghee, fried foods, and baked goods such as crackers, biscuits and pies. Baked and fried street and restaurant foods often contain industrially produced trans fat. Trans fat can also be found naturally in meat and dairy foods from ruminant animals (e.g. cows, sheep, goats). Both industrially produced and naturally occurring trans fat are equally harmful.

  • Industrially produced trans fat can be eliminated and replaced with healthier fats or oils without changing cost, taste or availability of food.

  • WHO’s recommendation for adults is to limit consumption of trans fat to less than 1% of total energy intake, which is less than 2.2 g per day for a 2000-calorie diet.