Preface
Manfred EggersdorferIII

SVP DSM Nutrition Science & Advocacy“Everyone has the right to a
standard of living adequate for thehealth and well-being of himself andof his family, including food,clothing, housing and medical careand necessary social services, andthe right to security in the event of
unemployment, sickness, disability,widowhood, old age or other lack oflivelihood in circumstances beyond
his control.”
Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Article 25 (1948)

Nutrition-sensitive agricultural policies are essential to combat theglobal scourge of malnutrition
Sno Shuu Photography

The Road to Good Nutrition is about a journey. It is not
the journey of a lone individual, or organization, orcountry, or even continent. It is a journey that the world hasembarked on – and which we can only complete if we allwalk the road together. This book is about how to improve
the nutritional status of the world’s population as a whole.
It therefore touches each and every one of us, and we eachhave a role to play in helping the world a step further
towards that goal.
This work is published at a critical moment in our global
understanding of the challenges and opportunities we face.
The need for a concerted approach to the elimination ofmalnutrition worldwide has never been greater. Nor has theworld’s desire to confront malnutrition in a concerted
manner. The Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement
continues to gather momentum even as this book goes topress; the evidential base for action has been strengthened
yet further by the publication of the 2013 Lancet series onMaternal and Child Nutrition; and the interactions between
nutritionists, policy-makers, program managers and donors
have never been so many, so frequent or so productive. Thisis a moment which the world must seize. And to seize thatmoment, we must grasp the fact that, for all the many
challenges we face, the elimination of malnutrition is apossibility. It can be achieved in practical terms, if only wehave the will to work together.
The Road to Good Nutrition presents a collective vision,and it is the product of a collective effort. As Editor-inChief of the volume, it has been my privilege to work withan international Editorial Board that has brought to thetable the expertise of many different disciplines and theexperience of many decades. For the generous provision of
their time, their telling insights and their firm commitment
to the creation of this book I would like to offer my warm
thanks to Marc Van Ameringen, Hans Konrad Biesalski,
Junshi Chen, Klaus Kraemer, Asma Lateef, Marie Ruel andVenkatesh Mannar. Klaus Kraemer and Marie Ruel worked
tirelessly to ensure that the book’s contents were as accurate
and up-to-the-minute as possible; Hans Konrad Biesalski
provided important new research in the field of hiddenhunger; Asma Lateef gave perspectives on the growing roleof civil society in combating malnutrition, and Marc Van
Ameringen on the part that donor organizations can play;while Junshi Chen and Venkatesh Mannar offered theviewpoints derived from the experience of China and India
respectively, helping to ensure that our perspective was asglobal as possible. I am grateful to all of them.

IV“A hungry man can’t see right orwrong. He just sees food.”
Pearl S. Buck (1892–1973)

I am likewise grateful to the contributors who graciously
provided the content for this book, taking time out of theirpacked agendas and busy traveling schedules to craft theirindividual chapters. My thanks go to Tom Arnold, Hans
Konrad Biesalski, Martin Bloem, Joachim von Braun, AlanDangour, Stuart Gillespie, John Hoddinott, Eileen Kennedy,
Alain Labrique, Asma Lateef, Marguerite B. Lucea, Saskia
de Pee, Victoria Quinn, Marie Ruel, Werner Schultink andPatrick Webb. They have each helped to shape this work,
offering world-class thinking in response to a global
challenge. My thanks, and the thanks of the entire EditorialBoard, go to each of them.
Last but by absolutely no means least, I would like to thankDavid Nabarro for his foreword to this volume, whose
sentiments I can only echo. I hope that it will help to spreadthe good news of SUN yet further and encourage yet more
support for the Movement.
The road that leads us towards good nutrition is not a shortone. Nor is it an easy one. But it is one that we cannegotiate if we walk it together.

Manfred Eggersdorfer
SVP Nutrition Science and Advocacy, DSM
Kaiseraugst, June 2013

Nelson Mandela
Simon Dawson / AP“Hunger is an aberration of thecivilized world. It is the result ofcivil wars, oppressive governments,and famines of biblical proportions.
Families are torn asunder by thequestion of who will eat. As global
citizens, we must free children fromthe nightmare of poverty and abuseand deprivation. We must protect
parents from the horrifying dilemmaof choosing who will live. Hunger isa basic need that must be met before
anyone can escape the depths ofignorance, before any society canstand without aid, but more
importantly, before any child’sbody can survive the onslaught ofdisease such as the scourges ofHIV, TB and malaria.”
Nelson Mandela, 2004

Preface | The Road To Nutrition | Manfred Eggersdorfer

VA Healthy Diet with Essential Micronutrients is the Basis for a Healthy Life
Poor diet is the 4th biggest global risk factor for disease.
Source: DSM Nutrition Science & Advocacy
B Vitamins –Establishing Healthy GrowthAC
DEK

Nervous system,
muscles

Vitamin A – Creating a Clear View
Vision, growth, development,
skin, fertility, immune system

Metabolism, tissues andorgans, growth, visionVitamin C – Strengthening Our Defenses
Healthy tissue, immune system

GrowthVitamin D – Building a Strong Foundation
Bone development, immune system

Metabolism, healing wounds

Vitamin E – Protecting What We‘re Made Of
Healthy tissue, fertility

Metabolism,
brain function, immune system

Blood clotting, bone health,heart healthHair roots, fingernails

Carotenoids

Red and white blood cells,
nerve cells

β-Carotene
Serves as an important source of vitamin A

Red blood cells, metabolism

LuteinVision, Antioxidant

B1
B2
B3
B5
B6
B7
B9
B12

Omega-3 PUFAs

Zeaxanthin
Vision, Antioxidant

Heart health, eye health, brain function

Life Expectancy Increasing (between 1990 and 2010)
Global male life
expectancy
at birth increasedby 11.1 years

56.4

years

67.5

73.3

years

years

Global female life
expectancy
at birth increasedby 12.1 years

61.2

years

After the year 2015 there
will be more people above
age 65 than below age 5
Source: GBD Study 2010, The Lancet, Volume
380, Issue 9859, Pages 2053-2260, DSM Nutrition
Science & Advocacy

VI

Carol Bellamy, UNICEF
Source: www.iisd.ca“Vitamin and mineral deficiency(VMD) touches the lives of perhaps athird of the world’s people. After adecade of dramatic developments, thefacts are known, the solutions areavailable, and the cause is one in which
many individuals and organizations– governments, the private sector, themedical and scientific community, civilsociety – can all become involved. The
challenge is therefore clear. And when
so much could be achieved for so manyand for so little, it would be a matter ofglobal disgrace if vitamin and mineral
deficiency were not brought undercontrol in the years immediately ahead.”
Carol Bellamy“In our world of plenty, no one should
live in hunger. No child should havehis growth stunted by malnutrition.
No child should have her opportunity
for a better life curtailed even before
she is born, because her mother wasundernourished.”
Ban Ki-moon, World Food Prize laureate award ceremony, 2012.

Ban Ki-moon, United Nations Secretary-General, during a press
conference at the 2011 World Economic Forum in Davos,
Switzerland
Source: WEF 2011