How we use FAOSTAT in Nutrition

BA Burlingame

Nutrition in FAO• Food Consumption Surveys

• Nutrient Requirements (incl energy)

• Nutrition Country Profiles

• Total Diet Studies

• Food Systems Analysis

• Dietary Pattern Analysis

• Nutrients in agricultural production (vit A, lysine per hectare; DHA availability)

• Nutritional Epidemiology

• FIVIMS, number of hungry people

Strength in time series

Food Balance Sheet Database

Food Supply Database

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

1961 1967 1977 1987 1997

prot

ein/pe

rson

/day (

g) Milk - Excluding Butter

Poultry Meat

Animal productsAnimal products Vegetal productsVegetal products

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

NewZealand

Australia UnitedStates ofAmerica

Italy

ener

gy/p

erso

n/da

y (k

cal)

Product Beer

Product Wine

1998

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

1961 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 1997

ener

gy/p

erso

n/da

y

Beer

Wine

Australia

0500

1000150020002500300035004000

Ener

gy (k

cal)

Carb

Fat

Protein

Extent of food deprivation

Prevalence Depth of hunger (kJ)

<850(200kcal)

850-1300(200-300kcal)

>1300(300 kcal)

Total

< 5% (low) 52 0 0 52

5-19%(moderate)

17 29 0 46

20% (high) 0 31 23 54

Total 69 60 23 152

Average food deficit of the undernourished

< 850 kJ/person/day

850-1300 kJ/person/day

> 1300 kJ/person/day

Depth of hunger1996-98

HighModerateLow

Infa

nt

Mo

rta

lity

Ra

te 1

99

7(i

nfa

nt

de

ath

s p

er

100

0 liv

e b

irth

s) 120

100

80

60

40

20

0

Depth of hunger and infant mortalityin developing countries

Depth of hunger and infant mortalityin developing countries

Depth of hunger and life expectancy in developing countries

Depth of hunger and life expectancy in developing countries

Depth of hunger 1996-98

HighModerateLow

Lif

e E

xpec

tan

cy

at B

irth

199

7 (y

ears

) 80

70

60

50

40

Depth of hunger and GDP growthin developing countries

Depth of hunger 1996-98

HighModerateLow

GD

P A

nnua

l Gro

wth

Rate

19

90-1

99

7(%

)

6

5

4

3

2

1

0

Food deprivation and GDP per capitain developing countries

Food deprivation and GDP per capitain developing countries

Food deprivation group

54321

GD

P p

er

capita

1990-1

99

7(I

NT

$,p

pp)

14000

12000

10000

8000

6000

4000

2000

0

Improving the quantity and

quality of diets

• 6.2 MJ/day (1480 kcal)

4.7 MJ from starchy staples

1.5 MJ from other foods

• 10.5 MJ/day (2 500 kcal)

5.7 MJ from starchy staples

4.7 MJ from other foods

National• Poland

– food consumption & eating habits– changes in dietary pattern and diet-related disease

• Argentina– Estimated vitamin A losses

• Finland– lead content of foods

• Norway– trans fatty acids

Regional• Europe

– “Tale of two commodities”

• Mediterranean Diet– fruits, veg, olive oil, wine

• Africa– Famine warning

• Nordic Countries low-fat dairy, edible fats

• Total Diet Studies – Regional Diets

Suggestions• Selected ESS staff should get training on food composition

because – they are in contact with countries on these issues – they compile compositional data for SUAs– this would enhance communication between ESS and AGN

• Training module should be developed for food composition • To enhance data quality, to enhance collaboration on issues

mentioned earlier and work to be carried out by consultants under AGN responsibility but supported by SO H

• Systematic error reporting mechanisms (e.g., different results for undernourishment between AGN and ESS using the same data, Cape Verde)

Future...• INFOODS link• Data suppliers and data users• International standards for compositional data (units, nutrient

expressions)• All energy-yielding components• Some micronutrients • Waste – household vs edible portion• Other terminology (DEC, DES)• Compositional databases = module in FAOSTAT• Commodity tree updates (generic and country-specific)• International standards for food classification/naming (Codex, Food

Comp...)• Collaboration in related activities, e.g., ICDAM, IFDC

FinalFAOSTAT is/should be the most important

output of FAO

Nutrition community uses (used) FAOSTAT data extensively

With a common platform for database development, several nutrition-related databases could be usefully linked

Time series is crucial