Critical nutrition events in human history

Decisions we make and implement about how people should be fed or feed themselves can have far-reaching effects on population, health and ecosystems and not simply those of an individual's health or even that of a community. Nutritionists and food policy makers are usually preoccupied by the need to optimize health, well-being and life expectancy in the light of a contemporary analysis of food-health relationships. Past pressures to feed human populations in Europe were temporarily resolved by the import from the Americas of maize and potatoes or sugar production with slave labour in various parts of the world. In China, the advent of rice production allowed population growth. In turn, the progressive increase in size of these populations has had long-term consequences for indigenous food cultures and people across the globe, often with their destruction and the reduction of food cultural diversity. Innovations in agricultural practice and food technology have also had unintended consequences. The development of dairying and dairy technology has contributed to the desertification of Africa and the increased fat consumption of Western peoples and their changing health patterns. The present rapid changes in the production, transport, processing and storage of food may solve some immediate health and population problems, but a more sophisticated and long-range analysis is required if we are to minimize any adverse effects and encourage a favourable impact on the human species and its habitat.