What the World Eats
- Katelyn McLaughlin
- Dec 4, 2020
- 3 min read
Updated: Dec 7, 2020
By: Kate McLaughlin
I wanted to spend a little time comparing and interpreting the differences in nutritional guidelines and how daily diets vary between people, cultures and regions from around the world.
In my research, I found that there has been some work done to develop Food-based dietary guidelines (FBDG) but there there isn't a solid set of standard "global" nutritional guidelines (that I could find). In the research surrounding Food-based dietary guidelines (FBDG), the article reviewed and analyzed 90 countries key messages, food guides, and other general public marketing. "Webpages were available for 90 countries: 7 from the Africa region, 17 from the Asia and the Pacific region, 4 from the Near East region, 33 from the European region, 27 from the Latin America and Caribbean region, and 2 from North America."
Through the research, it was clear that some countries were dedicated and focused heavily on nutritional guidelines, and nutritional education to the general public while other countries were not focused on that at all.
The article and study concludes with the following analysis, "There is a high level of consistency across countries globally on several dietary recommendations, including: consumption of a diversity of foods; consumption of abundant fruits and vegetables (≥5 servings or 400 g); inclusion of starchy staples, ASF, and legumes in the diet; and avoidance of excessive salt, sugar, and fat. Almost all food guides indicate proportionality in the diet, with the largest shares in starchy staples and fruits and vegetables. Other areas are less consistent across countries."
The whole analysis can be found here.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has a segment of their website dedicated to informing people of what a healthy diet includes and the benefits of eating a healthy diet. Additionally, the WHO website states, "WHO has also developed region-specific tools (such as regional nutrient profile models) that countries can use to implement the marketing recommendations."
I also found a website that the National Geographic designed that provides an evolving comparison chart on the Daily diets from countries around the world between 1961 and 2011. This shows how people's diets and nutritional intakes have changed over the years. They also created a "world average" charge. I found this information fascinating and wanted to talk about it below.
World Average (1961-2011)
1961 2011
I thought it was interesting that the global average for Daily Calories increased by 676 calories. Additionally, the Sugar & Fat averages and Meat averages also increased pretty significantly. Additionally, the world average of daily calories being consumed in 2011 is 870 calories over the USA nutritional guidelines for an average adult, which is 2,000 calories.
USA Averages (1961-2011)
1961 2011
The increase in "Sugar and Fat" intake between 1961 and 2011 in the USA was significant. Additionally, you will note that Sugar and Fat make up for 1/3 of USA's diets. You will also see that in 1961 the average daily calories were 2882 and by 2011 the average is 3,641. It's important to note that the average recommended number of calories for an adult is 2,000 calories per day. In 2011, USA was 1641 calories per day over that recommended daily limit.
I believe the results of this analysis go back to support the reviews of the movie "Fed Up" and the information surrounding sugar addiction. United States adults on average are not eating healthy diets which, in my opinion, says that they are also not feeding their children healthy diets. This data goes in line with the obesity epidemic among adults and children, especially within the United States.
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