Impact of Globalization on Nutritional Adequacy on School going Children: A Critical Narrative Review

Abstract

Globalisation has transformed the environments in which schoolgoing children obtain, perceive and
consume food. Its nutritional consequences are neither uniformly beneficial nor uniformly harmful:
expanding trade, investment, technology and information flows can improve food availability,
fortification, safety and access to nutrition knowledge, while the global expansion of ultra-processed
foods, transnational marketing, modern retail and digital platforms can displace diverse, nutrient
dense diets. This critical narrative review synthesises peer-reviewed studies, systematic reviews,
international guidelines and national evidence, with particular attention to low- and middle-income
countries and India. The evidence indicates that globalisation affects nutritional adequacy through
changes in food supply, prices, retail structure, commercial promotion, time use, social norms and
children’s autonomy. These pathways contribute to a double or triple burden in which thinness,
micronutrient deficiencies and overweight coexist within populations and even households. School
food environments can amplify these pressures when unhealthy products are readily sold or
advertised, but schools can also buffer them through nutritious meal provision, procurement
standards, restrictions on unhealthy foods, nutrition education and supportive choice architecture. The
review concludes that the policy objective should not be to reverse globalisation, but to govern its
food-system effects. Coordinated action is required across trade, agriculture, education, health, digital
regulation and social protection so that nutritious foods become affordable, convenient and socially
desirable for all children.