Framing the Latin American nutrition transition in a historical perspective, 1850 to the present

Abstract This paper argues that many of the foundations and trends that led to the rise in obesity and other diet-related health problems in Latin America began to develop in the late nineteenth century. The tendency towards presentism in the nutrition transition literature provides a much abbreviat...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Jonathan D. Ablard
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Casa de Oswaldo Cruz
Series:História, Ciências, Saúde: Manguinhos
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Online Access:http://www.scielo.br/pdf/hcsm/v28n1/0104-5970-hcsm-28-01-0233.pdf
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Summary:Abstract This paper argues that many of the foundations and trends that led to the rise in obesity and other diet-related health problems in Latin America began to develop in the late nineteenth century. The tendency towards presentism in the nutrition transition literature provides a much abbreviated and limited history of changes in diet and weight. Whereas medical and nutrition researchers have tended to emphasize the recent onset of the crisis, a historical perspective suggests that increasingly global food sourcing prompted changes in foodways and a gradual “fattening” of Latin America. This paper also provides a methodological and historiographic exploration of how to historicize the nutrition transition, drawing on a diverse array of sources from pre-1980 to the present.
ISSN:1678-4758