While global warming represents a major challenge for humanity, food security is also of great concern. However, you should know that if the population continues to increase, humans also have a higher body mass index, a trend that is not about to decrease.
On Earth right now, there are about 7.7 billion humans. According to the latest UN report (PDF in English / 46 pages) published in June 2019, the world population will close to 11 billion in 2100 . However, a study reported in a press release of December 5, 2019 estimates that population growth is to be associated with another factor causing worrying consequences.
Researchers from the University of Göttingen (Germany) behind this study published in PLOS One relate to body mass index (BMI). According to them, global food consumption could increase by 80% by 2100! However, 60% of this increase will be linked to population growth. According to the researchers, part of the problem concerns the remaining 20%, who will see their corpulence evolve.
Researchers have studied rapid changes in countries such as the Netherlands and Mexico. The goal? Provide a reference regarding the evolution of models around the world. The situation in these two countries is very different, but for the researchers these are realistic scenarios . In Mexico, the BMI has risen sharply in recent years, while in the Netherlands, the increase concerns more the average height.
In their conclusion, the researchers are quite pessimistic. According to them, in the event that world food production does not meet the growing demand of the population in 2100, the BMI of individuals will not decrease. . The leaders of the study believe that the financially well-off will be able to maintain their standard of living while the others will find themselves on the sidelines. These will be satisfied with a cheap food poor in nutrients and will therefore continue to grow. With such a finding, it seems logical that worries about malnutrition and health will certainly not diminish.
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