Severe nutrition problems afflict more than half the world's population and food systems will need to undergo significant changes to improve people's diets and lives. That was the message from UN Food and Agriculture Organisation representatives to a meeting organised by the World Health Organization (WHO) this week.

The meeting was arranged to set the groundwork for a major conference on nutrition in November next year. The conference's aim is to boost coordination of international efforts to tackle the agricultural, economic, health, food system and other factors that negatively influence what and how people eat, especially in developing countries.

"It is clear that the ways in which food is managed today are failing to result in sufficient improvements in nutrition. The most shocking fact is that over 840 million people still suffer from hunger today, despite the fact that the world already produces enough food for all, and wastes one-third of it," said José Graziano da Silva, Director-General of FAO. "But that is only part of the story. Today, over half of the world's population is affected by some form of malnutrition, be it hunger, micronutrient deficiencies or excessive consumption."

"The total amount of food produced but not consumed would be enough to feed an additional two billion. The truth of the matter is that, today, [citizens] are not receiving the right signals from current policies about how to eat healthily. That is what we need to address," Graziano da Silva added.

While 842 million people are chronically hungry, many more die or suffer the ill effects of inadequate nutrition. Around 2 billion people are affected by micronutrient deficiencies. Close to 7 million children die before their fifth birthday every year, 162 million children under five are stunted while at the same time, 500 million people are obese.

Furthermore, thanks to modern agricultural paradigm, food crops are raised for high yield potential and predictability or for the benefit of supermarket distribution system (long shelf life, hardiness), and as a result have had their nutritional value bred out of them. An assessment by the Medical Research Council in the UK in the early 90s revealed that "in every subgroup of foods investigated there has been a substantial loss in… mineral content" since the 1940s

In light of the magnitude of malnutrition and its impact in broader sustainable development, on Thursday FAO and two other Rome-based food and agriculture agencies - the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the World Food Programme (WFP) – called for the inclusion of a stand-alone goal on food security and nutrition in the post-2015 Development Agenda. Such a goal was recommended by the High Level Consultation on Hunger, Food Security and Nutrition last April in Madrid.

Dr Hans Troedsson, Executive Director of WHO's Director-General's Office, also called for a rethinking of the way in which the food system is managed, saying diet is a key factor in tackling the global burden of disease, and that the multi-faceted challenges of nutrition would need to be addressed on many levels, from infancy to maturity.

"If we, in the past, were mainly challenged by malnutrition in children, we are today facing an epidemic of poor diets and low physical activity, leading to high blood pressure, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and overweight," Troedsson said.

"The nutrition and health threats have actually expanded and worsened and this will not go away by itself. We need to address it urgently now and in the future. The health sector and the food sector need to work together.

Again in the UK, the Commons' Environmental Audit Committee recommended taking a more holistic, cross-sectoral approach to food and nutrition in its report on Sustainable Food in May. The report was heavily critical of the current government's approach to food policy and argued for policy on health, education, food, waste and energy to be interconnected.

Roberto Ridolfi, European Union Commission Director for Sustainable Growth and Development, said the EU is taking the issue seriously. Ridolfi said the EU is pushing for "measurable and time-bound targets" to reduce child stunting and other consequences of malnutrition.

The ICN2 nutrition conference (set to take place in late November 2014) will be a follow-up to the first such conference, which was held in 1992. Its aim is to take stock of progress made so far in improving nutrition and discuss how international coordination can be strengthened to improve the impact of national policies and programs that influence diets and health. The ICN2 will be in response to amplify the Secretary General's call to leaders gathered at the Rio+20 Summit to take up the "Zero Hunger Challenge."