Nutrition

Nutrition is shaped by the systems people move through including food prices, marketing, urban design, and inequality. People eat what their environments make possible, and fairer food environments are central to healthier, more equitable cities.

In many LMICs, food insecurity pushes households toward cheap, filling foods while nutritious options remain out of reach. These patterns reflect poverty, commercial pressure, weak regulation, and the clustering of fast‑food outlets in low‑income areas.

Reducing NCDs means changing the systems that shape access, not placing the burden on individuals. It depends on food environments and urban conditions that support people across the life course.

A street vendor's bicycle used as a fruit stand with oranges and apples displayed on baskets and in the basket attached to the bicycle. There is a woman wearing a traditional Vietnamese conical hat, blue jacket, and a face mask. Behind her, a closed shutter and scaffolding are visible. There are also signs in Vietnamese.

Food insecurity shapes what communities can build and how far they can go

Nearly 30% of the world lives with moderate or severe food insecurity. In many LMIC cities, people navigate rising prices, limited access to nutritious foods, and environments where cheap, filling options dominate. No one should be forced into poor diets because of the systems around them.

When food environments support people rather than constrain them, eating well becomes possible giving communities a fair chance at protecting health throughout life.

A market stall with a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables, including oranges, grapes, strawberries, carrots, and leafy greens, with graffiti-covered shutter in the background.

deaths worldwide are linked to poor diet, driven by low intake of whole foods and high intake of sodium and ultra‑processed foods

1 in 5

of daily calories for low‑income urban households in many LMIC regions come from street food

40-70%

A person wearing a straw hat and a pink jacket, pushing a bicycle with a large basket filled with avocados and a pulled orange inside, on a street.

people cannot afford a nutritious diet, with the highest burden in Africa and South Asia

3 billion

A busy market stall with fresh produce including apples, bananas, pomegranates, and various vegetables. Several customers are browsing, and jars of condiments or preserves are displayed along with hanging citrus and onions. The stall has a sign that reads 'The Fresh Produce Market'.

Where Food Meets Survival: A Reflection on South Africa’s Food Realities

A reflection on the lived realities of urban hunger in South Africa, where informal food economies, policy gaps, and daily precarity expose the systems that make food insecurity inevitable.

Nutrition Factors Driving Health Inequity

Across urban LMIC contexts, the commercial forces shaping diets are intensifying. Ultra‑processed foods dominate retail spaces, sugary drinks are aggressively marketed to children, and nutritious foods remain priced out of reach for many households.

These conditions are structural drivers of inequity that deepen the burden of diet‑related NCDs. Addressing nutrition inequity requires confronting the systems that create it.

A man standing behind a street vendor's stall displaying bottles of soda and water. The stall has several shelves filled with colorful bottled drinks including Coke, Sprite, Fanta, and local brands, with some lemons on a tray nearby.

Sugary Drinks

Sugary drinks are among the fastest‑growing sources of calories for children and adolescents in LMICs, driven by low cost, aggressive marketing, and widespread availability.

Two people exchanging money at an outdoor market stall selling apples and oranges, with motorcycles and trees in the background.

Cost of Food

In many LMIC cities, healthy foods cost much more per calorie than ultra‑processed ones, shaping everyday dietary choices.

Hands stacking small bowls filled with fried fish cakes topped with shredded vegetables, with additional fried fish cakes surrounding them.

Ultra-Processed Foods

Cheap ultra‑processed snacks and drinks are increasingly replacing traditional foods in many LMIC cities, especially among children and adolescents.

Corporate Marketing

Marketing of unhealthy foods is concentrated in low‑income urban neighbourhoods, shaping dietary patterns from early childhood.

Street market scene with people purchasing food, outdoor stalls with umbrellas, and vendors selling meat and produce.

Food Environment

Fast‑food outlets and convenience stores cluster in low‑income neighbourhoods, shaping exposure and limiting access to nutritious foods.

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People shopping for canned goods and produce in a busy grocery store.

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