Nutrition Transition

Nutrition transition is descriptive of two concepts related to patterns in the human diet. In a broader sense, the nutrition transition model provides a framework for the different shifts in dietary consumption and energy expenditure across the continuum of human history that coincides with other economic, demographic, and epidemiological changes. The actual term nutrition transition more commonly refers to the recent transition of developing countries from traditional diets high in cereal and fiber to more Western pattern diets high in sugars, fat, and animal-source food. This highlighted pattern of the overall nutrition transition model has its own distinct economic, cultural, biological, and epidemiological components. The latter of the two concepts is particularly emphasized because of the breadth and depth of research devoted to its rapid prevalence in urban areas and countries with transitioning economies as well as its global health and economic impacts and subsequent policy implications.