Abstract
The increased life expectancy, urbanization, and unhealthy lifestyle characterized by a shift towards a sedentary lifestyle and decreased energy expenditure are considered the main drivers of epidemiological transition. In particular, developing countries are facing a double burden caused by coexisting under- and over-nutrition, which causes a change in the disease profile from infectious diseases to a chronic degenerative pattern. This review discusses the under- and over-nutrition context in Mauritania and India, two countries that are experiencing a nutritional transition, and where we began a collaboration with local medical staff to integrate interventional and diagnostic guidelines. If many studies about diet and its relationship to non-communicable diseases are available for India, very few nutrition and cardiovascular risk studies have been conducted in Mauritania. Presently, with the exponential increase of nutrition-related diseases, targeted approaches are needed to provide balanced diets in parallel with the development of national preventive health systems and screening programs adapted to local needs. In this context, the measurement of oxidative stress biomarkers could be promising as an additive tool to assess cardiovascular (CV) risk in general population, and ameliorating prevention in patients at CV risk or with overt CV disease. Moreover, the possibility of improving the outcome by the direct employment of antioxidant remains plausible. Moreover, studies on the content of antioxidant in different foods may be helpful to develop a balanced diet, and achieve the maximal nutritional and functional properties of cultivars with benefits for human health.
Highlights
Lifestyle habits, in general, surely including diet and exercise, can confer a risk to developing diseases across the human lifespan [1]
Under-nutrition issues associated to industrialization and urbanization have been overcome in developed countries, at least 75% of all deaths are attributable to unbalanced diet and over-nutrition, which cause an onset of non-communicable diseases (NCDs)
As developing countries have become wealthier, the population moves from a traditional diet high in carbohydrates and fiber and low in fat and sugar, to a typical Westernized diet, characterized by a higher intake in energy, saturated fat, sodium, sugar, and low in fiber, and associated with physical inactivity and other unhealthy lifestyle behaviors, which increase the risk of obesity, hypertension, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and ischemic heart disease (IHD) [4]
Summary
In general, surely including diet and exercise, can confer a risk to developing diseases across the human lifespan [1]. As developing countries have become wealthier, the population moves from a traditional diet high in carbohydrates and fiber and low in fat and sugar, to a typical Westernized diet, characterized by a higher intake in energy, saturated fat, sodium, sugar, and low in fiber, and associated with physical inactivity and other unhealthy lifestyle behaviors (e.g., smoking), which increase the risk of obesity, hypertension, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and ischemic heart disease (IHD) [4] This change is pivotal for the epidemiological transition from a condition of predominance of nutritional deficiencies and infectious diseases, to those classified as degenerative chronic diseases (such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, and diabetes) [5]. Analogous approaches can be adapted to other countries according to different local social, religious, economic, and geographical characteristics
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