Availability in Consumption of Dietary Fat
The increase in the quantity and quality of the fats consumed in the diet is an important feature of nutrition transition reflected in the national diets of countries.
There are large variations across the regions of the world in the amount of total fats (i.e. fats in foods, plus added fats and oils) available for human consumption.
The lowest quantities consumed are recorded in Africa, while the highest consumption occurs in parts of North America and Europe.
The important point is that there has been a remarkable increase in the intake of dietary fats over the past three decease and that this increase has taken place practically everywhere except in Africa, where consumption levels have stagnated.
Rising incomes in the developing world have led also to an increase in the availability and consumption of energy dense high fat diets.
Food balance data can be used to examine the shift in the proportion of energy from fat over time and its relationship to increasing incomes.
In 1961-1963, a diet providing 20% of energy from fat was associated only with countries having at least a per capita gross national product of $1475. By 1990, however even poor countries having a gross national product of only $750 per capita had access to a similar diet comprising 20% of energy from fat.
By 1990, vegetable fats accounted for a greater proportion of dietary energy than animal fats for countries in the lowest per capita income category.
Changes in edible vegetable oil supply, in prices and in consumption equally affected rich and poor countries although the net impact was relatively much greater in low-income countries.
An equally large and important shift on the proportion of energy from added sugars in the diets of low income countries was also a feature of the nutrition transition.
Examinations of the purchasing habits of people, aimed at understanding the relationship between level of education or income and the different amounts or types of commodities purchased at different times were also revealing.
Research conducted in China shows that there have been profound shifts in purchasing practices in relation to income over the past decade. These analysis show how extra income in China affects poor people and rich people in a differential manner, enhancing the fat intake of poor more than that of the rich.
Availability in Consumption of Dietary Fat
