Nations Meet In Rome For Global Nutrition Conference

Representatives from over 170 nations as well as the WHO (World Health Organization) gathered on Tuesday for the opening ceremonies of the Second International Conference on Nutrition in Rome.

The nutrition conference is aimed at finding solutions to the pressing nutritional problems of the international community, where over half of the planet’s population is suffering from some form of malnutrition.

United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, who delivered an address at the conference’s opening ceremony, said that while nations have been making progress to tackle the issues of malnutrition and hunger, there was still much work ahead for the international community

“[T]his Conference marks a new stage in our quest to banish global hunger and malnutrition for good,” Ban Ki-moon explained.

The nutrition conference kicked things off with the adoption of The Rome Declaration on Nutrition, which “commits countries to eradicate hunger and prevent all forms of malnutrition worldwide – particularly undernutrition in children, anaemia in women and children, among other micronutrient deficiencies – as well as reverse the trend in obesity.”

The WHO and the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FSO) organized the nutrition conference, which is being attended by hundreds of delegates from around the world. It aims to insure the right to clean and healthy food for every person and is aiming to “encourage gradual reduction of saturated fat, sugars and salt/sodium and trans-fat from foods and beverages to prevent excessive intake by consumers and improve nutrient content of foods, as needed.”

This has been a particular problem for the United States. Although most Americans are not calorie deficient, they still suffer from malnutrition, ranging from mild vitamin deficiencies to more serious lack of nutrition. So while Americans are getting plenty of calories, they are void of any nutritional value and full of processed sugars, unhealthy fats, sodium, and various chemicals.

Recent statistics from the Food and Resource Action Center show that 68.5 percent of Americans are classified as over weight and 34.9 percent are already obese. These figures also include the 31.8 percent of American children who are already overweight and many of our school children are already experiencing high blood pressure. This has created a major health problem in the United States, where heart disease is the leading cause of death and millions of Americans suffer from high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, and a slew of other diet related health problems. These same sort of problems are also being seen in parts of the world being influenced by western style diet and food production.

The nutrition conference will end tomorrow with a final address from Pope Francis.

[Image: UN/FAO]