A food systems perspective

One of the most exciting aspects of studying nutrition at Cornell, a rural agriculture-focused university, rather than at my other grad program option, Emory's School of Public Health which is attached to a medical center, is the chance to learn more about how food systems work from the agricultural production side.

When we talk about nutrition interventions, many of us think of popping a multivitamin or choosing calcium-fortified orange juice. However, most of our nutrients - including energy (calories), vitamins and minerals - come from the regular old foods we eat. When we talk about nutrition at Cornell, we don't just talk about the physiology of metabolism but also the economic, social and environmental factors that affect the food systems through which we access our nutrients.

The root causes of pediatric malnutrition in places like Haiti is not a lack of maternal knowledge about what to feed their children, but rather more fundamental issues such as the lack of transportation infrastructure to help farmers get the foods they produce to markets where urban population can buy them at an affordable price.

Anway, this entire post was inspired by this article in the BBC online. It talks about China's changing food system and the way that economic growth has influenced consumer preferences which in turn change what farmers grow and has forced China to start importing food. The Chinese context is very different from Haiti but the article illustrates some important principles about a systems perspective on food and nutrition - a change in one part of the system has ripples through the entire system.