FOOD, CULTURE, GLOBALIZATION: INFLUENCE ON HEALTH

Globalization has negative effects on the health of the individuals and the populations through mechanisms that lead to increased inequalities between and within countries, economic instability and lack of improvements in supply of sanitary services that reflects on the variations of life expectancy at birth. The problem is the globalization doesn’t act evenly, it supports those countries and groups of population that already have plenty of resources, and it strucks poorer countries. Globalization favors the rich (people and countries) also thanks to the power they have in establishing rules and in particular business and market rules. Among the fundamental right of people adequate nutrition is a prerequisite to carry out a satisfactory work, social life, reproductive and development factor. An “effective access to a power supply in quantity and quality sufficient for a productive life and health for all individuals” be defined in accordance with the United Nations Food Security is not a right evenly spread throughout the world; in fact, 80% of the world population does not have the possibility to eat in adequate quantity and have access to safe water sources. In economically disadvantaged countries, population growth, urbanization and internal growth massively increase the demand for food of animal origin. This change in the supply of billions of people has the potential to produce a substantial change in the lives of many poor people living in rural areas. The diet of the whole world is moving towards homogeneity, the diet of Africa and parts of Asia has expanded its menu, adding the globalized foods to the traditional ones. But this is not a good news, because today millions of people more than in the past, try calorie-rich foods, animal protein, sugar, fat. This leads to disastrous consequences, from the point of view of health, as evidenced by the increasing of the so-called welfare diseases linked to excess in highly processed foods and the food and fast food multinationals facilitate and enhance this trend.