Undernutrition and Overnutrition: The Challenging Double Burden of Malnutrition

The UN Secretary-General’s High-Level Task Force on Global Food and Nutrition Security defined food system relative to its Zero Hunger Challenge as “a system that embraces all the elements (environment, people, inputs, processes, infrastructure, institutions, markets and trade) and activities that relate to the production, processing, distribution and marketing, preparation and consumption of food and the outputs of these activities, including socio-economic and environmental outcomes.” These elements and activities make up the components of food chains that link the food producer ultimately to the food consumer. The same group also defined sustainable food system as “a food system that delivers food and nutrition security for all in such a way that the economic, social and environmental bases to generate food security and nutrition for future generations are not compromised” (UN 2015a ). Food systems can be global or local in scope, and its food chains can be short and...