Turkey: Global nutrition-themed conference kicks off

By Ali Murat Alhas

ANKARA (AA) - A Turkish association on Wednesday started its two-day-long conference on international food trends, impact of urbanization on human beings’ diet, nutrition effects on sports and health, and innovations in global food industry.

Organized by the Food Supplement and Nutrition Association (GTBD), the 3rd Conference on Food and Nutrition Policies hosts many international and local academics, nutrition experts, and public sector officials delivering speeches and holding panels with a view to broaden the nutrition understanding of the common people and related state institutions.

"Our goal is to bring the [latest] international developments linked to nutrition and food sector to the agenda of decision-makers and academics," said Samet Serttas, the head of the GTBD.

Serttas said up to 93% of the Turkish population lived in urban areas today, therefore their nutrition style has significantly changed, which led to growing obesity in the country despite the common narrative saying Turks enjoyed a healthy diet thanks to the Mediterranean cuisine culture.

"One of the most challenging problems of ours is obesity. Over 75% of our [Turkey's] population is overweight.

"People living in cities do not perform physical acts, and our children started to follow this trend," he said, adding the former was greatly affected by the technological developments that confine them to houses.

He went on to argue that the global population has skyrocketed in the past centuries, making policy-makers to find alternative means to meet peoples’ food demand -- which is a topic that will be discussed in detailed in the event.

He underlined that there were over 820 million people going hungry worldwide today according to the figures of the Food and Agriculture Organizations of the UN whereas there were the "other" hundreds of millions suffering from obesity.

This issue is a dilemma that should be tackled in an efficient manner globally, he added.