Comparing the Effects of Unsustainable Production and Consumption of Food on Health and Policy Across Developed and Less Developed Countries

Abstract

The unsustainable food consumption across high-income countries (HICs) and low-income countries (LICs) is expected to differ in nature and extent, although no formal evidence in this respect has been documented. Documenting this evidence is the aim of this chapter. Specifically, the chapter seeks to answer the following questions: 1) Do the contexts in less developed countries (LDCs) and developed countries (DCs) make the nature and extent of unsustainability in food consumption different? 2) Do the mechanisms of the linkage between unsustainability of food consumption and health outcomes independent of countries' contexts? 3) Are current policies against unsustainable food consumption equally effective in DCs and LDCs? These questions are answered by means of a systematic review of the literature for the period 2000-2017. The findings are that the nature and extent of unsustainability is quite different across contexts of LICs and HICs.