Trade deals worsen island nations’ obesity epidemic, research reveals

Recent research reveals that trade deals don’t block nutrition policies in small island nations but rather pose hurdles that can slow or water down efforts to curb obesity and diet-related diseases.

Published in Globalization and Health, the study blames trade liberalization as a major contributor to obesogenic food environments worldwide. “What has been coined the ‘neoliberal diet’ consists of low-cost, high-calorie, low-nutritional value foods that favor taste and cost-saving over nutrition and are often high in fat, salt, and sugar.”

As a result, researchers say that Small Island Developing States (SIDS) suffer the most with some of the world’s highest obesity rates and nutrition-related noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). The 58 localities in this group are spread across the Atlantic, Indian, and South China Seas, as well as the Pacific and Caribbean.

“Nutrition regulations have been recognized as necessary population health measures for combating malnutrition, however, legally binding trade and investment agreements (TIAs) can constrain the policy options available to governments,” underline the researchers. 

“Geographical, economic, historical, and cultural contexts of SIDS may place them at greater risk of TIA constraints resulting in barriers to the uptake of public health nutrition policies.”

In the paper, trade liberalization is characterized by the spread of international trade and TIAs that seek to reduce import and export barriers, harmonize regulations, and foreign direct investment. 

However, failing to meet TIA obligations can aggravate state-state or investor-state conflicts, especially in nutrition policy development in SIDs, say researchers.

SIDS suffer the most with some of the world’s highest obesity rates and nutrition-related NCDs.TIA poses unfair hurdles 

The study, based on 12 interviews with Pacific and Caribbean stakeholders, found that TIAs did not, by and large, constrain nutrition policy targeting public health. However, they did pose structural constraints for SIDs due to financial and capacity constraints, industry influence, and limited international power.

“TIAs were perceived to pose structural and procedural constraints in the form of regulatory chill, increased burden of ensuring trade-compliant nutrition policies, unfair TIA negotiation processes, inconsistent perceptions of ‘unhealthy’ foods, trade liberalization ideology, and industry interference,” detail the authors.

“Despite this, local, regional, and international actors can increase SIDS’ policy space through capacity building, fostering multisectoral collaboration, developing conflict of interest policies, improving TIA negotiation processes, and championing the prioritization of public health nutrition in trade governance.”

Call for improved global efforts

The research points to the need for healthy nutrition policies in SIDs to combat NCDs. The authors say these policies should target the food environment, including fiscal policies, interpretive nutrition labeling, restrictions on marketing and advertising, and limits on critical nutrients.

They add that more work must be done to protect the space for nutrition policy from TIA constraints. They also suggest developing trade and nutrition knowledge and capabilities among locals and putting conflict of interest procedures in place. 

The study also urges international collaboration to provide SIDS with capacity assistance, increase transparency, and improve the TIA negotiation processes.

Researchers advise policies should target nutrition labeling, restrictions on marketing and advertising, and limits on critical nutrients.Trade and nutrition link

WTO and the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition previously stressed the need to leverage international trade policies to enhance global nutrition security, reduce malnutrition, and align food systems with public health goals. 

Nearly 5,000 trillion kilocalories are traded daily for global nutrition security, which has reached a value of US$2.3 trillion, highlight WTO’s deputy director-general, Jean-Marie Paugam. GAIN’s executive director, Lawrence Haddad also shared success stories in the island nations of Fiji, Samoa, and Tonga.

A recent report by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization emphasized the need to align trade policies with nutrition goals while preventing trade-driven dietary shifts that contribute to obesity and malnutrition.

It found robust global trade growth of food and agricultural products, benefiting food and nutrient diversity, availability, and affordability. Food and agrarian trade nearly quintupled, rising from US$400 billion in 2000 to US$1.9 trillion in 2022.

Meanwhile, other researchers have found that children aged two to eight across the US-affiliated Pacific region are not meeting daily recommended intakes for key micronutrients and are either consuming too much or too little. This link’s insufficient micronutrient intake to risks of obesity and acanthosis nigricans, a skin condition linked to insulin resistance.

Some experts emphasize that high malnutrition rates are often seen only as a medical issue that can be resolved with a micronutrient intervention. However, this approach overlooks the social and political elements contributing to poor nutrition.