World Bank links obesity to high food prices

Food prices have dropped since peaking six months ago but remain near record levels, pushing the world’s poorest people toward “undernutrition” and obesity, the World Bank said Thursday.

“Unhealthy food tends to be cheaper than healthy ones, like junk food in developed countries,” said Otaviano Canuto, World Bank Group’s vice president for poverty reduction and economic management.

“When poor people with some disposable income in developing countries try to cope with high and increasingly volatile food prices, they also tend to choose cheap food that is high in calories but without much nutritious value.”

Between October and February, world food prices dropped by 4 percent overall, driven in part by wheat and sugar, due to weaker demand for wheat feed and reduced maize consumption for ethanol as well as improved harvest conditions, according to the World Bank. (AFP)