Eating highly processed foods, diets too low in fruit, too high in salt…poor eating habits have a hidden health cost of more than $8 trillion a year, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) which calls for “urgent action » to reshape global agri-food systems.

This $8.1 trillion is linked to lost productivity due to diet-induced diseases (diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular disease…), according to the organization’s annual report.

This invisible cost is added to the already known and identified cost of medical expenses and leads to the doubling of the real health cost of our diet.

Health impacts represent 70% of the total hidden cost of food production worldwide, in addition to environmental, social, etc. costs.

Responsible for half of these health costs is a diet poor in whole (unrefined) grains, the consumption of highly processed products, a widespread phenomenon (with the exception of some countries in Africa and perhaps India), a diet poor in fruits (the phenomenon concerns the entire the world) and the salt-rich diet.

Followed by a diet rich in processed meat products (sausages, cured meats, etc.), in red meat and poor in vegetables…

Depending on the country, hidden health costs represent up to 10% of GDP, mainly in some emerging countries, according to the report, which covers 153 countries and 99% of the world’s population.

This calculation represents the minimum because it does not include the effects of malnutrition which also represent costs, according to FAO.

And what can be done? FAO points to “the need for more ambitious country commitments” and assigns roles along the chain that starts from the producer and reaches the consumer.

The FAO warns of the risk that the burden of these changes will fall mainly on the shoulders of farmers who are “on the front line”.

“Increasingly globalized supply chains and power imbalances often place the burden of change on vulnerable parties, such as producers, who are faced with increased costs associated with the regulatory framework and downward pressure on prices” , the report points out.

The health costs ” borne by the community are invisible and so no one pays attention and therefore no one really wants to fix the problem,” says David Laborde, director of FAO’s Agri-Food Economics division.

“We have to get out of the trap in which the consumer doesn’t want to pay, the reseller doesn’t want to pay, the state says “I don’t have money” and the tendency is to transfer the costs to the farmer”, with direct consequences such as those that we lived in Europe last winter and, finally, idleness.

Agricultural producers must have access to technologies, be paid for their ecosystem services and certifications (organic, fair trade) are a tool for better income, according to the report. “Agribusiness and investors have an important role to play.” Also, consumers are “the last piece of the puzzle” when choosing healthy, sustainably produced food.”

“Financial incentives, awareness campaigns, regulatory framework can support change, especially the most vulnerable households,” when “in many countries, populations bear the double burden of malnutrition/obesity or disease.”

For example, taxing sugary drinks or subsidizing fruit and vegetables have “positive effects”, according to the report.

“The international community can always hope that innovation solves the problems of agri-food systems, but innovation alone is unlikely to steer them towards sustainability: their management must change thanks to political will,” FAO concludes in its report. .