Abstract

BENTO, Alexandra; CORDEIRO, Tânia; GONCALVES, Carla  and  ALMEIDA, Maria Daniel Vaz de. Portugal follows the global trend - an analysis of the evolution of food and nutritional availability and gross domestic product over four decades. Acta Port Nutr [online]. 2019, n.16, pp.10-16. ISSN 2183-5985.  https://doi.org/10.21011/apn.2019.1603.

Food is one of the determinants with the greatest impact on health. Recognition of this reality should lead to a definition of policies geared to specific health problems and to the adoption of intervention strategies that favor an integrated approach aimed at improving the health of the population, the quality of care provided and the efficiency in the use of resources. Data on food and nutritional availability from the Food Scales published by the Food and Agriculture Organization from 1974 to 2013 were used to carry out this work. Data on the gross domestic product were collected from the PORDATA. The analysis of the evolution of food and nutritional availability showed the existence of differences in the food and nutritional pattern of the Portuguese throughout the period under analysis. There was an increase in energy availability (427 kcal per capita) due to the increase in animal lipids and proteins derived essentially from the increased availability of meat and milk. It also verified that the improvement of the economic performance of the country was accompanied by the energy availability and the alteration of the nutritional structure.

Keywords : Food balance; Food supply; Nutritional availability; Gross domestic product; Nutritional transition.

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