While the increase in hunger is making headlines, the numbers in the report make it obvious that the world is facing food problems on multiple fronts. An estimated 815 million people are going hungry at the same time that more than 700 million people, including more than 100 million children, are obese. While hunger’s ability to kill makes it vivid in our minds, obesity, which has doubled since 1980, is tied to a host of health issues, too, including diabetes, high blood pressure, and an increased likelihood of stroke.
It’s easy to see hunger and obesity as two infuriating but separate issues—a baffling manifestation of a split world, of the haves and the have-nots. But in reality, the numbers are actually two sides of the same coin: A startling portion of the world does not have access to reliable, nutrient-rich food. The undernourished obviously suffer this problem, but in many cases, those who end up obese suffer from a lack of access to nutritious food, too. [...]
In many places, obesity and hunger are not tragic antagonists but troubling twins. Yet the U.N. is still focused primarily on hunger, defined by the agency as chronic undernourishment, or being regularly unable to acquire a suitable daily caloric intake. This focus on lack of calories, as opposed to lack of nutrients, is clearest in the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals. On the list of 17 world-changing metrics to meet by 2030, the second goal is “zero hunger,” which focuses almost exclusively on problems of low caloric intake. The third goal, a seemingly all-encompassing effort to achieve “good health and well-being” for all, doesn’t mention obesity, either. (The U.N. isn’t oblivious to the other public health crisis. In a Q&A accompanying the report, the U.N. acknowledges that in many nations, and indeed in some households, obesity and food insecurity coexist, as some poor people turn to cheap, low-nutrient foods.)
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