Launch of the WHO/FAO Joint Consultation Report on Diet, Nutrition and the Prevention of Chronic Diseases

Rome, 23 April 2003

Director-General Brundtland,
honourable Permanent Representatives,
your Excellencies,
distinguished colleagues,
dear guests,
ladies and gentlemen,

I would first like to welcome to Rome Director-General Brundtland, our colleagues from WHO, and Dr. Kumanyika, of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. I am pleased to address all of you today in the launch of the Report of a Joint WHO/FAO Expert Consultation on Diet, Nutrition and the Prevention of Chronic Diseases. This is a very timely and significant Report.

This Expert Consultation is yet another example of the strong collaborative work and long-term partnership between our two Organizations in the generation of scientific-based advice.

Professor Kumanyika has already highlighted some of the major findings and recommendations of the report, while Dr. Brundtland has described how the report will be used as the critical science-based foundation for WHO’s on-going development of its Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health. Indeed our two Organizations have worked closely together to ensure that a science-based approach was followed in the preparation of this Report. The use of sound science has always been of vital importance in all FAO’s work in food, agriculture and nutrition.

Thus, it may be important at this point to comment upon just how our Organizations convene expert, scientific consultations to support the fulfilment of our missions. FAO convenes groups of world-renowned specialists in their particular fields of expertise to advise the Organization on topical themes. These experts are selected according to their scientific excellence through a fully transparent process that ensures that they can work independently to review the topic at hand and prepare a report. WHO uses a similar procedure. This process was carefully followed in the selection of experts for the joint consultation presented today.

Furthermore, our two Organisations addressed the potential concerns in the report through a transparent process of external review in which both Organizations requested comments from interested stakeholders. We received nearly 130 substantial comments ­ some negative, others positive ­ which were in large part taken into consideration by the Experts.

Following the first release of the Report, some of the recommendations, in our view, have been taken out of context ­ for example, the recommendation to limit the proportion of calories from free sugars. I believe the experts themselves would agree that this recommendation is not meant to be a precise quantitative limit derived from scientific experiments, but the best compromise based on current knowledge. In any case, the recommendation to limit the intake of free sugars is meant to be a desirable population nutrition goal, not a standard to be regulated. Certainly, research will have to continue in all the areas addressed in the Report. This is particularly necessary with regard to the applicability of the recommendations to the situation of hungry and malnourished people. They cannot as easily reduce the consumption of certain foods considered less conducive to their health unless they have physical and economic access to alternative foods considered desirable for a healthier diet.

The recommendations for a healthy diet contained in this Report are important to all of us ­ in developing and developed countries, those more affluent, those much less so. Health problems linked to diet and physical inactivity are traditionally considered problems limited to more affluent nations. As the Report clearly demonstrates, these diseases are increasingly affecting people in developing countries, including the poorest. Many lower income countries are increasingly confronted with the challenges of a double burden of disease ­ in which obesity and other chronic diseases exist alongside hunger and undernutrition. FAO is particularly concerned with the increasing evidence linking undernutrition during the early stages of life to the development of non-communicable, chronic diseases at later stages of life.

Some may consider the launch of the Expert Report as the end of a process - for FAO, it represents a beginning. We propose that our response to the Report include a number of steps. First, we will present the Report, together with FAO’s response to its findings, to the Organization’s governing bodies as soon as possible. This will include, in particular, an analysis of the impact of the recommendations on consumers and farmers in developing countries, many of whom are poor and undernourished.

FAO will first have to work with its members and take stock of prevailing diets, in order to assess, together with WHO, how dietary patterns would need to be altered in response to these recommendations. We must know what people are eating relative to the recommended food-based dietary goals - particularly in developing countries where less data is available. Simple messages are required - less high-calorie foods, more fruits, vegetables and legumes, more foods of plant and marine origin ­ plus people need to be physically active.

We will also examine how food and agricultural sectors worldwide may adjust in response to these messages, and address the important implications this will have for production, processing and trade. The recommendations to increase consumption of fruits and vegetables as well as fish and fishery products would have strategic implications for FAO’s future work in horticulture and fishery management. Increased consumption of fruits and vegetables and fishery products represents a potential market opportunity for developing countries, which often have a comparative advantage in these products. The recommendations also note that meat and dairy products remain a desired but insufficiently consumed food in developing countries.

Our task is to begin the development of a comprehensive strategic response to the Report in consultation with our Members and partners. We have an opportunity to develop the most appropriate responses to health concerns that are linked to food and agriculture. Developing countries may also have an opportunity to capitalize on the potential market changes linked to the recommendations of the Report. At the same time, our task will be to assist with the possible adjustments in agriculture and fishery sectors in a sustainable way over the longer term. This must include an assessment of the potential effects of current and future production methods and systems on the quality of food. Together with WHO, we will identify any undesirable implications for consumer health, and develop recommendations to address them.

A summary note of the Expert report, circulated at the 17th session of its Committee on Agriculture, is available here today for your information in all FAO languages. The full copy of the Expert Report presented today is also available on line.

This is also an ideal occasion for us to recognize the many significant achievements and courageous initiatives undertaken by the WHO under the leadership of Dr. Brundtland - including the extensive inter-agency collaboration necessary to produce this Expert Report. In closing, I would like to express, once again, my gratitude to Dr. Brundtland and Dr. Kumaniyika, the Expert Group, and my colleagues and staff at FAO and the WHO for their time and commitment.

I thank you for your attention.

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