Dietary Patterns and Non-Communicable Diseases in Selected Latin American Countries

Maria Eugenia Bonilla-Chacin, Luis Marcano (), Ricardo Sierra and Ursula Aldana

No 80559, Health, Nutrition and Population (HNP) Discussion Paper Series from The World Bank

Abstract: To raise awareness among policymakers and health practitioners about unhealthy diets, this document examines dietary patterns in selected Latin American countries using household surveys. The analysis shows that a large percentage of households in the countries examined have inadequate diets. Not only are calorie intakes higher than recommended to maintain a healthy weight, but the diets are also rich in fats, particularly saturated fats, sugars and sodium, and poor in fruits and vegetables. These unhealthy diets are present in both rural and urban areas and in households at different income levels. These dietary patterns are likely to increase the risks for developing non-communicable diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, certain types of cancer, and diabetes mellitus. These diseases are increasingly representing the main causes of death and disability in Latin America, and thus there is an urgent need to increase efforts to promote healthy diets. There are cost-effective interventions that have proven to improve diets, particularly to reduce sodium and trans fat intake, and there are promising examples in the region of the implementation of some of these cost-effective interventions. In addition, given the harmful effects of these dietary patterns, it is important to monitor the prevalence of unhealthy diets across different population groups as well as the intermediate risks factors linked to these diets, such as overweight and obesity, high blood pressure, and high fasting glucose in the blood. This will require better information than what is currently available and information that is comparable across time.

Keywords: adolescents; Aging; Agriculture; animal fats; animal protein; ascorbic acid; baked goods; beef; beverages; bottles; bran; bread; breakfast cereals; breastfeeding; butter Ca; caffeine; Calcium; caloric intake; Calorie Intake; canned foods; Carbohydrate; carbohydrates; cardiovascular diseases; cheese; child malnutrition; chronic malnutrition; COMMUNICABLE DISEASES; complex carbohydrates; Consumption Quintiles; consumption threshold; cost-effectiveness; cream; daily calories; daily expenditure on food; dairies; dairy; demand for food; diabetes; diet; dietary changes; Dietary Fiber; dietary habits; DIETARY PATTERNS; dietary Sugars; diets; disability adjusted life years; eggs; fats; Folic acid; food availability; food components; food composition; food consumption; food expenditures; food industry; food intake; food preparation; food service; Food supply; foods; Fruit; fruits; grains; health care; health status; high blood pressure; Household Budget; household income; Human Development; Hypertension; ice; income distribution; Income growth; income inequality; income quintile; injuries; intervention; iron; iron deficiency; labeling; leisure time; lipids; liquor; living conditions; Living Standards; low birth weight; maize; margarine; marketing; meal; meat; meats; micronutrients; milk; Minerals; Non-Alcoholic Beverages; nutrient; Nutrition; nutrition surveys; nuts; obesity; pasta; per capita consumption; physical activity; poorer households; Potassium; potatoes; poverty incidence; Pregnant Women; prepared foods; processed foods; Protein; proteins; regional study; restaurants; Rice; Risk Factors; Rural Areas; school health; snacks; sodium; soft drinks; starches; sub-region; Sucrose; Sugar; sugars; supermarkets; sweeteners; tubers; vegetable oils; vegetable proteins; vegetables; violence; Vitamin; Vitamin A; Vitamin B; Vitamin C; Vitamin D; Vitamin E; Vitamin K; vitamins; weight gain (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: pages 58 pages
Date: 2014-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea and nep-lam
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