Economic growth and rising per capita incomes have all but wiped out hunger in Europe and Central Asia. ###As countries become more affluent, changing consumption patterns are giving rise to other health threats. ###This ‘food insecurity transition’ is documented in a new FAO report.###Regional Overview of Food Insecurity: Europe and Central Asia analyzes a wealth of country data: on dietary energy supply, undernourishment indicators such as stunting and wasting, anaemia, overweight and obesity, and what people on average are eating.###The report points to a pattern whereby countries progress from dealing predominantly with undernutrition and micronutrient deficiencies, to coping with degenerative diseases associated with increased dietary fat, sugar, meat and dairy, and processed foods.###This transiticountry life calcium citrateon is often accompanied by a more sedentary lifestyle.###“As we trace the structure of diets as incometop rated magnesium citrates increase,” said economist and report author David Sedik.###“We find that the portion of total calories derived from sweeteners, vegetable oils and animal products increases, while that derived from cereals declines.”###“There are important nuances, but the general tendency is clear.”###In other words, the data show a progression towards a diet high in sweeteners, vegetable and animal fat, and low in grains.###This means that undernutrition issues have largely been overcome in the region – a stunning achievement. ###Only 7% of the population in Europe and Central Asia live in countries where the predominant nutrition problems are undernutrition and micronutrient deficiencies.###However, malnutrition caused by deficiencies in micronutrients such as iron, Vitamin A and zinc, and over nutrition issues measured by overweight and obesity, have remained and increased. ###Today, 13% of the population of the region lives in countries suffering from a ‘triple burden’ of all three nutrition problems (undernutrition, micronutrient deficiencies and over nutrition).###More worryingly, 57% of the region’s population live in countries where the main nutrition problem is over nutrition.###According to the report, 70% of the population in the region suffer from malnutrition characterized predominantly by a triple malnutrition burden or by over nutrition.###The situation is not static, however. ###Countries in the undernutrition group are on track to join the triple-burden category in the years ahead.###“As more countries transition into the triple-burden category,” Sedik said.###“Health expenditures will need to rise rapidly and substantially to deal with the highecalcium citrate liquid formr healthcare costs associated with more diabetes, heart disease, and other diet-related non-communicable diseases.”###Solutions###While Part 1 of the report presents the problem, Part 2 is devoted to solutions. ###It explores several promising policies for addressing and eventually eradicating food insecurity, tailored to the income and nutrition profile of each country. ###These are policies that have been tried and proven effective.###Food fortification is offered as a policy option for countries in the undernutrition and micronutrient deficiencies grouping.###Fortification of milk with vitamin D, salt with iodine, wheat flour with iron, folic acid and thiamine are examples of this approach, which has been a critical driver of improvements in micronutrient consumption in children in Central Asia. ###Similarly, bio-fortification uses plant bnature made calcium citrate 500 mgreeding to increase the micronutrient content of crops. ###Bio-fortified crops could be used to offset the relatively low micronutrient content of wheat in Central Asia and the Caucasus, where cereals supply more than 50% of dietary energy.###Other policy recommendations include:###– Reformulating popular convenience foods to improve their nutritional value;###– Taxes and subsidies designed to change the relative prices of foods depending on their healthfulness;###– Nutrition education to inform people on what constitutes a healthful, balanced diet;###– More effective food safety systems, and standardization of food safety, sanitary, phytosanitary and hygiene regulations;###– Better nutritional labelling of food products; and###– Food assistance programs including vouchers and food subsidy programs, food transfer and cash transfer prcal mag citrate 2 1 ratioograms.