Global food consumption is increasingly overtaking the available supply which does not bode well for the future of the world’s population. At the same time, the percentage of people eating more than their fair share is pushing disadvantaged segments of society further beneath the poverty line.

At least 68 per cent of American adults are currently overweight, an estimated 23 per cent of these being classified as clinically obese with approximately 18 per cent of children and adolescents also falling in the latter category. These figures are reflected, to a slightly lesser degree, in many other countries in the ‘developed’ world and yet, throughout Africa. In numerous, but not all, Asian countries, malnutrition is on the increase.

It appears that more and more people, or at least those with the opportunity, simply work to earn money to spend on convenience foods to fuel them up with more energy to work longer to earn more and spend more on ‘luxury’ items. When they are not working, the odds are that they are sitting watching television/videos or using computers, neither of which activities burns off the unnecessary calories they have consumed.

The fact that much of these calories come from ‘fast foods’, high carbohydrate snacks and sugary drinks is the main reason that well over 10 per cent of American medical spending goes on the treatment of avoidable heart diseases, diabetes, arthritis, some forms of cancer and other conditions related to being overweight.

The fast food trends largely to blame for this phenomenon have been exported and made ‘fashionable’ all over the world. Those with enough financial means at their disposal join this unhealthy practice; obesity likewise spreads and, correspondingly, avoidable health problems increase, further pressurising already strained health services in the Third World.

Global food production has not fallen but struggles to keep pace with rising population figures. This, while, unfortunately, a large percentage of fresh produce either rots in the fields or perishes on its way to market as a result of poor or sometimes non-existent infrastructures. Additionally, as cities expand, irreplaceable, fertile, agricultural land shrinks. Also, feeling the financial squeeze, an increasing number of rural people are relocating to urban centres in search of paid jobs thus reducing the size of the traditional agricultural workforce.

This vicious cycle ultimately results in higher food prices, with essential commodities being completely out of reach for subsistence consumers who, inevitably, drift towards malnourishment and its inescapable health and learning problems.

As the global percentage of fast food junkies escalates, the demand for land on which to produce the necessary ingredients for ‘instant’ food expands likewise. To the point where, for example, vast areas of the precious South American rainforests have been cleared to make way for cattle farms and the cultivation of millions of hectares of animal feed to fatten up animals destined to meet the requirements of fast food chains and hypermarkets selling processed foods of all kinds.

This loss of essential forest cover, in turn, increases the rate of global warming. It is now spiralling out of control, the resultant climatic changes causing droughts and other agricultural problems in ‘under-developed’ countries which, unlike their ‘developed’ counterparts have not made any specific input to the global warming.Therefore, the overall equation goes something like this, people devouring vast quantities of fast food become fat/obese and are responsible, albeit largely unknowingly, for the greed-driven destruction of forests and natural rangeland. It makes way for intensive farming which, along with incredible financial rewards for unscrupulous elements, intensifies global warming.

This global warming inflicts horrendous consequences on the Third World, primarily agricultural countries whose indigenous peoples suffer severe financial and dietary complications. Perhaps, leading to loss of income, homes and, eventually, malnutrition followed, quite possibly, by social unrest, even anarchy.

Add to this simmering cauldron the spectre of ‘corporate farming’, whereby wealthy foreign governments/investors lease or purchase, vast swathes of agricultural or potentially agricultural land, in countries open to exploitation for a variety of reasons. Therefore, including corrupt governments and the plot thickens as whatever these farms intend to produce is for export only, the meat/crops/dairy products destined for markets in ‘developed’ countries with the wherewithal to purchase them.

Thus, by reducing agricultural land available to indigenous peoples, obviously impacting local production and pushing prices of essential commodities even further through the roof. Once again the end result is malnutrition and mayhem and, if the mayhem escalates to epidemic proportions, the ‘foreign’ countries may well feel justified enough to intervene and take over completely. This scenario may sound far fetched to some, particularly to fast food addicts, but, then again, nightmares often do!