An anthropological perspective on obesity considers both its evolutionary background and cross-cultural variation. It must explain three basic facts about obesity: gender dimorphism (women greater than men), an increase with modernization, and a positive association with socioeconomic status. Preindustrial diets varied in quality but shared a tendency to periodic shortages. Such shortages, part...

It has been estimated that almost one billion people – or one in seven out of the global population are either hungry or acutely malnourished. Among the most recent additions to this statistic are an estimated 43 million people affected by severe food shortages in Yemen and sub-Saharan Africa. However, food insecurity is also experienced by communities in the developed world. In 2011, for examp...

Avian viruses can have significant impacts on human health and wellbeing. Highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses (HPAIV) threaten poultry producers with high costs of culling and disposal in the event of an outbreak. Earlier in 2015, a shortage of eggs in the US was caused by HPAIV in commercial layer flocks. In countries with chronic food shortages, HPAIV can have more widespread effects on...

ABSTRACT Food shortages and nutritional deficiencies are not uncommon in most developing nations including Nigeria, and these appear to be worsen by cultural food prejudice, practices, taboos and beliefs. Common food taboos affect the nutrient (especially protein) intake by children and so, suffer most. Food taboos should be discouraged because there are no sound justifications for such cultura...

A long time has passed since I last gave chemotherapy, but I have not been immune to the news about the drug shortages in the past few years. Therefore, I wanted to explore what was behind the headlines like “U.S. facing cancer drug shortage: Ariz. doctors rationing supplies; FDA allowing India imports” in the February 22nd Arizona Business News (Alltucker, 2012). You may have been more directl...

The rapidly growing world population and rising consumption of biofuels are increasing demand for both food and biofuels. This exaggerates both food and fuel shortages. Using food crops such as corn grain to produce ethanol raises major nutritional and ethical concerns. Nearly 60% of humans in the world are currently malnourished, so the need for grains and other basic foods is critical. Growin...

Eggertson highlighted the problem of drug shortages in Canada and described initiatives of the Canadian Pharmacists Association, hospital pharmacists, and drug manufacturers to address the problem. Many stakeholders have underscored the importance of the drug shortage problem and its risks, but few quantitative data have been published. 3,4 A few regulatory agencies (e.g., the US Food and Drug ...

the effectiveness of any drug supply systems in providing a trustworthy supply of essential drugs is a critical issue. to evaluate this effectiveness, it is necessary to watch over the status of the essential medicines in any country impartially and continuously. some countries and also the world health organization (who) have codified a list of minimum medicines needed for a basic health care ...