Dietary species richness as a measure of food biodiversity and nutritional quality of diets

Abstract

SignificanceCurrent research linking biodiversity and human diets has used metrics without justification from a nutritional point of view. Diet species richness, or a count of the number of different species consumed per day, assesses both nutritional adequacy and food biodiversity of diets for women and children in rural areas. The positive association of food species richness with dietary quality was observed in both the wet and the dry season. Food biodiversity contributes to diet quality in vulnerable populations in areas with high biodiversity. Reporting the number of species consumed during dietary assessment provides a unique opportunity to cut across two critical dimensions of sustainable development—human and environmental health—and complements existing indicators for healthy and sustainable diets.

Social-ecological outcomes of agricultural intensification

“…We also note that dual losses for biodiversity and well-being, especially in association with food security, tend to go together. This confirms other recent work that, for example, shows a positive association between species richness and dietary quality across seven low-and middleincome countries 70 . In summary, few of our cases provide evidence that agricultural intensification is contributing simultaneously to SDGs such as ending hunger (SDG2) and achieving sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems (SDG15).…”

EAACI position paper on diet diversity in pregnancy, infancy and childhood: Novel concepts and implications for studies in allergy and asthma

“…"Food biodiversity is defined as the diversity of plants, animals and other organisms used as food, covering the genetic resources within species, between species and provided by ecosystems" Food biodiversity therefore measures food intake based on their scientific classifications and may be useful to determine nutritional intake. 44 Microbial diversity of food: Studying foods with a high biodiversity of microbial content such as unpasteurized milk (atopic dermatitis and atopy) 130 and fermented foods such as cheese or yoghurt (food allergy and atopic dermatitis) 131 as an indicator of intake of microbial diversity, and a source of short chain fatty acids, gives an indication that these foods may be associated with allergy prevention. Studies focusing on Westernized diets 116,117,132 (also high in advanced glycation end products, soda, fruit juice, 133,134 cured meats 135 and fast food 136 ) suggest that increased intake of advanced glycation end products(AGEs) is associated with reduced diet diversity and increased allergy outcomes.…”

“…There is a nonexhaustive list of factors that may affect allergy outcomes, but potential confounders should be corrected for analysing associations between diet diversity and allergy outcomes Diet diversity can be measured by counting individual foods, 31,37,[42][43][44][45][46] food groups 30,[34][35][36]38,39,41,43,[47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54] or foods within a group, 32,33,55,56 and can be measured over a time period ranging from the previous 24 hours (24-hour recalls) [31][32][33][34][35]38,40,44,46,48 or over a 7day period 33,39,42,47,53,[55][56][57] to intake over one year. Food intake data may be collected once [32][33][34]…”

Biodiverse food plants in the semiarid region of Brazil have unknown potential: A systematic review

“…Third, nutritionally, low-diversity diets are a challenge to public health at a global level. As a matter of availability, native plants have the potential to increase the diversity of food in local communities [10]. Besides, encouraging conscious diets including native plants also is supported by an environmental argument: It is a path to make BFP known and, thus, increase possibilities for their conservation [47].…”