It has been recently reported in Australia that the numbers of obese men and women has actually overtaken the number that suffer from malnutrition due to hunger. The International Association of Agricultural Economists Conference heard that the situation of obesity is becoming dire and that economic incentives were urgently required to beat the problem.

A leading professor of nutrition at the University of North Carolina noted that the world was fast changing from one where starvation was the biggest problem to one where obesity was the main cause of ill health and this was mainly due to changes in our diet from cereals and wholegrains to extensive consumption of animal products and fatty vegetable oils.

The conference participants alos heard that a change in diet coupled with a big decline in physical activity for the majority of the population in developed countries was the reason for the change. The figures are startling showing that obesity is the more common health problem than starvation and that malnutrition is not the main health worry of the world anymore.

China is probably the best example to use with regard to this change as the new found economic prosperity means that people there are eating less wholegrains and rice and are now eating more high fat and oil rich foodstuffs that are bad for health and cause obesity. The Chinese people are also getting more sedentary with modern gadgets making their lives easier and less active. Some of the conference participants called for governments and health officials to look into ways of taxing unhealthy foods and subsidising healthy foods to encourage better diets.

Not everyone agrees with the financial incentives to make people eat well as they say they are unworkable and many say that the emphasis should be on making people get out more and use public transport and to walk more rather than drive everywhere.