Inter Press Service: Opinion: Healthy Diets for Healthy Lives
José Graziano da Silva, director general of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)

“…[A]dhering to a healthy diet helps you to not only to live longer, but also to have a better quality of life. Conversely, a bad diet causes malnutrition and can expose you to a range of NCDs. A modern paradox is that many countries — including developing countries — suffer from undernourishment on the one hand, and obesity and diet-related diseases on the other. And while FAO’s chief concern is to eradicate hunger in this world, we cannot separate food security from nutrition. FAO — together with our U.N. agencies — considers food and nutrition security a basic human right. In all cases, the cost of malnutrition goes beyond the health of the individual: it affects society as a whole in terms of public health costs and loss of productivity, and, therefore, is an issue that must be addressed through public and coordinated action…” (5/5).