While life expectancy has been rising, the length of a healthy life has deteriorated, a new World Economic Forum and Accenture report finds.
Diet is the most important driver of health and changing the way people consume food is the key to cultivating a sustainable and healthy food system.
Here are four ways to help people make better food choices for better health outcomes.
Anyone born in 2024 can expect to live for an average of 73 years, a huge increase from those born in 1950, who averaged nearer 46 years.

But while the improvement in overall life expectancy is undeniable, healthy life expectancy is broadly deteriorating and nutrition is responsible, according to a new insight report from the World Economic Forum and Accenture.

Here’s why the global food system needs to change, and four key ways to help people embrace healthier food choices and reduce the healthspan-lifespan gap.

Changing food priorities
The world’s food needs are changing. After the Second World War, the global food system was focused on providing cheap, high-calorie food to feed a growing population.

But, today, conditions related to excess body weight kill more people in the Western world than hunger, say the authors of Transforming the Global Food System for Human Health and Resilience. Obesity rates have nearly tripled since 1980, and non-communicable diseases such as cancer and diabetes have more than doubled in the same timeframe.

The current food system is also a threat to the planet, says the report. Agriculture contributes around a third of all global greenhouse gas emissions, and today’s agricultural practices can negatively impact soil fertility and productivity.

And the cost of poor nutrition and all of its impacts is close to $20 trillion – more than double the direct cost of global food consumption. READ further from the source