Changes in Diet and Food Patterns

Question 1

Dietary Evolution

Answer 1

Hunter-gatherers
Protein 15-20
Starch 50-70
Fat 15-20

Peasant agriculturists
Protein 10-15
Starch 60-75
Sugar 5
Fat 10-15

Modern affluent societies
Protein 12
Starch 25 - 30
Sugar 20
Fat 40 +

Question 2

Mention the health transitions

Answer 2

1. The prehistoric transition c.1000,000 BCE
2. The stone age (first agricultural) revolution c. 10-15,000 BCE
3. The beginning of globalization c.500 BCE-1,000 CE
4. The Columbian exchange 1500-1900 CE
5. The age of revolutions (industrialization, 2nd agricultural revolution & globalization) C18 and on-going

Question 3

Explain the prehistoric transition

Answer 3

Human history begins in Africa when c.7 million years ago early hominids evolved from apes.

Homo sapiens evolved in Africa 100-200,000 years ago from homo erectus and other hominids.

c.70,000 years ago, humans began to migrate from the Savannahs of Africa to Europe, Asia and into the Americas, Australia and finally, the Pacific islands.

Question 4

What were the Stone Age diseases?

Answer 4

Mainly parasitic infections (helminths, vermin)
Measles
Life expectancy was not great at 26 years

Question 5

What was the Stone Age diet?

Answer 5

from unprocessed plants to more digestible and energy-dense meat

Question 6

What is the Paleolithic diet?

Answer 6

game animals, fish and seafood, insects, a wide range of plants foods (fruits, nuts, berries, seeds and roots)
no diary products or staple foods (cereals or roots)

Question 7

What are staple foods?

Answer 7

It forms the basis of the diet in terms of quantity and frequency of consumption, which provides the highest proportion of energy.

Question 8

Explain the Stone Age Revolution

Answer 8

The next big change was the development of agriculture - the stone age or 1st agricultural revolution

Question 9

Which foods were domesticated in the Stone Age Revolution?

Answer 9

Cereals, roots and tubers, pulses and some fruits.
Also animals.

Question 10

What were the Stone Age Revolution diseases?

Answer 10

Living in close proximity with animals meant that many viral and bacterial pathogens crossed the species barrier (CD’s)
- Measles, smallpox and TB from cattle
- Malaria falciparum from birds
- Nutritional deficiencies (anaemia)
- Life expectancy dropped to c.19y

Question 11

Stone Age Revolution Epidemics

Answer 11

We see the first epidemics of CDs in the ancient world and its cities.
Records of epidemics date back 4-5,000 BCE, with the earliest possibly being in Sumeria.

Question 12

What were the first epidemics in ancient Greece and Rome documented?

Answer 12

Smallpox and measles

Question 13

Facts about the Columbian Exchange

Answer 13

The next major transition began when Columbus landed in the New World in 1492.
This led to further shared pools of infection on a global scale.

Question 14

Where does Cholera spread from, creating epidemics in Europe?

Answer 14

India (beyond in the C19th)

Question 15

Facts about the Age of Revolutions C18-19-20

Answer 15

Period of huge social change, health and diet.
The French Revolution - some trace back the notion of health as a risk (and indeed other rights) back to the Declaration of the Rights of Man.

Question 16

What was the Age of Revolutions diet?

Answer 16

Meat, potatoes, often gin.

Question 17

What were the Age of Revolution diseases?

Answer 17

Very high rate (morbidity and mortality) of CDs with recurrent epidemics: typhoid, typhus, diarrhoea, dysentery, cholera, smallpox, scarlet fever.
Foodborne diseases and food poisoning.
Nutritional deficiencies (rickets, anaemia)
Life expectancy was low: 45 in Surrey, 37 in London and 26 in Liverpool

Question 18

What are the sources of major global dietary and physical activity shifts?

Answer 18

• From traditional to modern meals
• From traditional to modern household production
• From traditional to modern snacking
• From traditional to modern economic work at home
• ” marketing of foods
• ” Transport

Question 19

What are the stages of the Nutrition Transition?

Answer 19

Patter 1 . Paleolithic man/hunter-gatherers - Wild plants & animals, water, labour intensive - Lean and robust, high disease rate = Low fertility, low life expectancy.

Pattern 2. Settlements begin / Monoculture period / Famine emerges - Cereals dominate, water, labour intensive - Nutritional deficiencies, stature declines = High fertility, high MCH mortality, low life expectancy.

Pattern 3. Industrialization / Receding Famine - Starchy, low variety, low fat, high fibre, water, labour intensive, work job/home - MCH deficiencies, weaning disease, stunting = slow mortality decline.

Pattern 4. NCDs - Increased fat, sugar, processed foods, caloric beverages, shift in technology of work and leisure - Obesity emerges, range of other NR-NCDs = Accelerated life expectancy, increased disability period.

Pattern 5. Desired societal / Behavioral Change - Reduced fat, increased water, fruit, veg, CHO, Reduced caloric beverage intake. replace sedentarism w/purposeful activity - Reduced body fatness, reduces NR-NCDs = Extended heath aging

Question 20

Assertions of Dietary Changes

Answer 20

• Shifts in diet patterns are occurring and have recently occurred more rapidly than ever in human history.
• Obese patterns are much higher for the level of development than we have noted in the past.
• The rates of change are very rapid, and the data that we have seem to lead to this conclusion comes from data from both child trends and adult trend data.

Question 21

Facts about double burden of malnutrition

Answer 21

This is observed due to undernutrition among children and overnutrition in adults.
Triple burden of overnutrition, undernutrition and micronutrient deficiencies.
As we have observed, a driving force in the shift from undernutrition to overnutrition was globalisation, economic development and urbanisation.