Sustainable Development

Nutrition: once a primary concern of international development, it has recently enjoyed a renaissance of interest. Even the G8 are concerned with addressing maternal health. While diseases of malnourishment are not as severe as they used to be, millions of children still die from malnutrition and stunting is still a chief concern the world over. Given that Nestle sells food products, it is not too surprising that in their desire to 'create shared value' they emphasize nutrition  - and this conference on 'Creating Shared Value' in London had a panel to discuss the issue.

Nestle is making some progress. For one, they have hired an excellent former academic nutrition expert to help mainstream concerns for nutrition into their main products - leading to the 'taste-plus' model, in which their products both have to taste great but also have the 'plus' of being more nutritious than their competitors.

Many on the panel, however, argued not only that we need to work to end malnutrition (the panel disagreed on the best approach: focusing on educating women?  researching and then enhancing products with micronutrients? Increasing overall economic growth in the hopes that strong GDP growth would enhance nutrition (though the evidence is more complicated)?) but that we need  focus just as much on over-nutrition. Or, as Lawrence Haddad from the Institute of Development Studies suggested, we need to be concern not only for the 'bottom billion' that threatens to grow larger (thanks not least to the financial crisis) but for the 'billions of bottoms' that keep getting larger. The major killer nutrition-related diseases of the world are no longer malnutrition or mineral deficiencies; they are increasingly the diseases of the 'developed world' - diabetes, heart disease and other chronic diseases that are made worse by 'overnutrition' and that need long term solutions. Like under-nutrition, over-nutrition requires getting beyond diet and into a systemic approach.

And herein lies one of the ironies - and corporate challenges - before us: one of the best ways of getting rid of excess weight is getting rid of excess food - especially processed food. Take the subtitle of Michael Pollan's book, 'In defense of food' as a good rule of thumb: 'Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.' Nestle - and many other food companies - sells creams & desserts, cookies and cakes, confectionery - from choclate bars to Kit Kats to biscuits, chilled meats, breakfast cereals and drinks (coffees, aero, 'skinny cow milk', etc.) While they are growing their bottled water production, and while milk would count as 'real food', one has to admit that most of their products list don't really fit Pollan's suggestions.  So given that overconsumption of processed foods is one of the major nutritional problems today, and Nestle is seeking to be a leader in nutrition - what is it going to do? Will it get into sourcing whole fruits and vegetables and discouraging the wide range of Kit-Kat-like products which, however tasty and popular, are (one of the many factors) contributing to obesity and over-nutrition in modern society?  Several members of the audience raised these questions, but I didn't hear very many strong answers from the panel.  Haddad argued that the private sector - especially Nestle - has a great deal to offer nutrition in international development through what he called the '4 Ls - learning, linking, leveraging and leadership'.  The other panelists - many nutritionists and doctors - seemed to agree. So while there is agreement that Nestle and other multinational food companies have a role to play in ending malnutrition and addressing overnutrition, it is less clear how companies can work to end the overconsumption that enables their very survival yet limits their ability to create true nutritional 'value' for people the world over.