Mapping evidence of food system transformation for healthier diets: what works?

BY ELS LECOUTERE,MARRIT VAN DEN BERG AND ALAN DE BRAUW

Effective food systems innovations—defined as policies, technologies, and/or institutional innovations that trigger changes in food systems dynamics and outcomes—can help produce healthier, more sustainable outcomes, and are essential to confront our current global challenges, which are formidable.

Food insecurity persists around the world, along with high rates of micronutrient malnutrition and increasing numbers of people who are overweight or obese, a precursor for many non-communicable diseases such as diabetes. If food systems transformation continues along the current trajectory, this already dire situation will grow worse, creating a growing nutrition crisis that threatens the stability of national health systems.