The nutritional transition in Western Europe, 1865-2000: A new approach

Popkin's nutritional model is still used today and it serves a double purpose: to explain the evolution of food consumption since the nineteenth century, and to forecast its future evolution depending on income levels. This article analyses the model critically and, with the aid of new evidence concerning nutrient and food intake, demonstrates that its analytical potential is substantially increased by the consideration of two new variables alongside income levels: environmental conditions and available technology in the agro-alimentary sector. The Popkin model can be accepted for Europe but should be improved in two ways: firstly, with the addition of all those variables that have conditioned over time the supply and demand for food; secondly, with the addition of a new phase, which would occupy the first half of the twentieth century. This phase would be characterized by the coexistence of different nutrition transition processes, which would be better adapted to the environmental conditions of each region.