A/HRC/19/59 sweeteners derived from starch (high-fructose corn syrup), largely explaining the global increase in caloric sweetener consumed. In 2000, 306 kcal were consumed per person per day, about a third more than in 1962, and caloric sweeteners by then also accounted for a larger share of both total energy and total carbohydrates consumed. 42 Because the prices of basic crops went through such a significant decline, the agrifood industry responded by ―adding value‖ by heavily processing foods, leading to diets richer in saturated and transfatty acids, salt, and sugars. This, combined with urbanization and higher employment rates for women, precipitated the rapid expansion for processed foods, both domestically and through exports dumped on foreign markets. 30. Another impact on diets was through the price channel, by changing the relative prices of foods in the consumer‘s basket. In high-income countries, healthy diets including a wide range of fruits and vegetables are more expensive than diets rich in oils, sugars and fats.43 While this may not be the reason why overweight and obesity have been increasing over the years, it is certainly one factor among others responsible for this situation. And it leads to important socio-economic disparities in quality diets. Scientists show a strong correlation between low-education and -income levels and higher rates of obesity, type II diabetes and coronary heart disease. 44 31. This should not be allowed to stand. Any society where a healthy diet is more expensive than an unhealthy diet is a society that must mend its price system. This is even more imperative where the poorest are too poor to feed themselves in a manner not detrimental to their health. 2. The globalization of food chains 32. The globalization of food supply chains affects nutrition in two ways. First, the general pattern has been for developing countries to export high-quality foods, tropical fruits and vegetables in particular, to rich countries, while importing refined grains. This means that while increased trade may have lowered the price of macronutrients in lowincome countries (although with a greater vulnerability to price shocks), the reverse has been true for micronutrient-rich products, leading poor families in developing countries to shift to monotonous, micronutrient-poor diets, relying mainly on starchy staples, as more diverse diets may become unaffordable or less affordable than diets comprised of staples. 45 Nutrition may thus be affected by this ―price effect,‖ resulting from the shift in the relative prices of food commodities. 33. Second, the globalization of food chains leads to a shift from diets high in complex carbohydrates and fibre to diets with a higher proportion of fats and sugars. As a result of this ―nutrition transition,‖ disease patterns shift away from infectious and nutrient-deficiency diseases toward higher rates of coronary heart disease, non-insulin dependent diabetes, some 42 43 44 45 14 B.M. Popkin and S.J. Nielsen, ―The sweetening of the world‘s diet,‖ Obesity Research, vol. 11 (2003), pp. 1326 and 1328. P. Monsivais and others, ―Following federal guidelines to increase nutrient consumption may lead to higher food costs for consumers‖, Health Affairs, vol. 30, No. 8 (2011), pp. 1471-1477; C. Rehm and others, ―The quality and monetary value of diets consumed by adults in the United States‖, American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, vol. 94, No. 5 (2011), pp. 1333-1339. J. Banks and others, ―Disease and disadvantage in the United States and in England‖, Journal of the American Medical Association, vol. 295, No. 17 (2006), pp. 2037-2045; P. Monsivais and others, ―Are socio-economic disparities in diet quality explained by diet cost?‖, Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health (available online only), 2010. M.T. Ruel, ―Operationalizing dietary diversity: a review of measurement issues and research priorities‖, Journal of Nutrition, vol. 133, No. 11 (2003), pp. 3911S-3926S.