In the United States the food industry started roughly 30 years ago to market products, such as margarines low in saturated fats, advertised to reduce the risk of heart disease. Over the years this nutritional marketing increased in volume in proportion to public demand. About 15 years ago the death rates from nutrition-related degenerative diseases began decreasing nationally. Recent reports indicate that the rate of death from stroke, for example, fell by 40 per cent in the past decade. Such lag time between marketing campaigns and beneficial effects may not be necessary in developing countries.
Degenerative diseases take decades of bad eating habits to develop.
The young child's nutritional status can deteriorate or improve in weeks or months. This paper presents evidence suggesting that the potential impact of nutrition education in developing countries would be very high if significant funds were invested in changing food habits. Existing evidence should justify at least one trial of large-scale funding of nutrition communications on a national scale in a developing country with an investment of from 10 to 20 million dollars. These funds should be used for scientific message development by means of field trials and market research and for expert design of campaign materials. A. Andre, personal communication, 1977.