Global relationships between crop diversity and nutritional stability

Nicholson, Charlie C.; Emery, Benjamin Freixas; Niles, Meredith T.

doi:10.1038/s41467-021-25615-2

Cited by 34 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…These changes would involve a careful consideration of the food supply and demand side dynamics. Improving food choice and demand can drive food supply under favorable structural factors that enable adequate supply from both domestic production and import sources [ 45 ]. However, a variety of other factors that influence food choice would need to be tackled—including the affordability of food groups that are currently under-consumed, nutrition education about the importance of dietary diversity, food preferences, and marketing practices [ 46 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adherence to EAT-Lancet dietary recommendations for health and sustainability in the Gambia

Ali

Scheelbeek

Felix

et al. 2022

Environ. Res. Lett.

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Facilitating dietary change is pivotal to improving population health, increasing food system resilience, and minimizing adverse impacts on the environment, but assessment of the current ‘status-quo’ and identification of bottlenecks for improvement has been lacking to date. We assessed deviation of the Gambian diet from the EAT-Lancet guidelines for healthy and sustainable diets and identified leverage points to improve nutritional and planetary health. We analysed the 2015/16 Gambian Integrated Household Survey dataset comprising food consumption data from 12,713 households. Consumption of different food groups was compared against the EAT-Lancet reference diet targets to assess deviation from the guidelines. We computed a “sustainable and healthy diet index (SHDI)” based on deviation of different food groups from the EAT-Lancet recommendations and modelled the socio-economic and geographic determinants of households that achieved higher scores on this index, using multivariable mixed effects regression. The average Gambian diet had very low adherence to EAT-Lancet recommendations. The diet was dominated by refined grains and added sugars which exceeded the recommendations. SHDI scores for nutritionally important food groups such as fruits, vegetables, nuts, dairy, poultry, and beef and lamb were low. Household characteristics associated with higher SHDI scores included: being a female-headed household, having a relatively small household size, having a schooled head of the household, having a high wealth index, and residing in an urban settlement. Furthermore, diets reported in the dry season and households with high crop production diversity showed increased adherence to the targets. While average Gambian diets include lower amounts of food groups with harmful environmental footprint, they are also inadequate in healthy food groups and are high in sugar. There are opportunities to improve diets without increasing their environmental footprint by focusing on the substitution of refined grains by wholegrains, reducing sugar and increasing fruit and vegetables consumption.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adherence to EAT-Lancet dietary recommendations for health and sustainability in the Gambia

Ali

Scheelbeek

Felix

et al. 2022

Environ. Res. Lett.

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“…[ 69 ]. Moreover, crop diversity is known to benefit nutritional stability [ 70 ]. Admittedly, due to their poor market presence, the advancements in processing and storage methods of AC final products are often lackluster [ 26 ].…”

Section: Alternative Crops and Food Securitymentioning

confidence: 99%

The Role of Alternative Crops in an Upcoming Global Food Crisis: A Concise Review

Mavroeidis

Roussis

Kakabouki

2022

Foods

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Achieving Food Security (FS) is perhaps our most challenging aspiration. Despite our best efforts, millions of people around the globe are malnourished or live with hunger. The state of the geo-political scene, as well as the COVID-19 pandemic, have recently brought forth fears of a Global Food Crisis (GFC). Here, we present the factors that threaten FS and could trigger a GFC, examine the potential of alternative crops (ACs) as a measure against an upcoming GFC, and highlight the key aspects of the ACs introduction process in new regions. ACs could enhance FS, yet their success is premised on the adoption of sustainable practices and the implementation of food strategies that aim to promote healthy consumer behaviours.

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“…Future studies could further inquire about the relationship of structural components to individual food security outcomes. Given how critical imports are to island food security, SIDS's embeddedness in a globalized world and their food systems' susceptibility to volatile markets must be considered when examining island food security [26,44,45,92,105]. In the case of Puerto Rico as a US territory, future studies could assess the extent to which structural elements within US policy frameworks influence island food security outcomes.…”

Section: Moving Beyond the Household Levelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social-ecological interactions in a disaster context: Puerto Rican farmer households’ food security after Hurricane Maria

Rodríguez-Cruz

Álvarez-Berríos

Niles

2022

Environ. Res. Lett.

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Islands are uniquely vulnerable to extreme weather events and food insecurities, and have additional response challenges due to their limited territories and economies, isolation, colonial legacies, and high dependence of food imports. Domestic farmers have a key role in producing food for island communities like Puerto Rico, which can safeguard food security when food importation may be challenging. Nevertheless, in the context of disaster, farmers themselves may be vulnerable to food insecurity and unable to contribute to domestic markets. This paper examines Puerto Rican farmers households’ food security in the aftermath of 2017’s Hurricane Maria using a social-ecological lens. Survey data from 405 farmers gathered eight months after Maria, coupled with biophysical data from the hurricane’s impacts (winds, rains, and landslides), was analyzed. Overall, 69% of farmers experienced at least one month of food insecurity in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, and 38% reported persistent food insecurity (three months or more). A multinomial logistic regression suggests that biophysical impacts, but especially social factors, such as age and constraint access to external sources of support, are linked with persistent food insecurity. This suggests that the biophysical impacts of the hurricane interact with existing infrastructure and social resources to affect farmer vulnerability and the food environment in different ways. Thus, strengthening adaptive capacity in multiple domains can help farmers and vulnerable populations better navigate the disruptions faced during disasters to alleviate food insecurity.

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Global relationships between crop diversity and nutritional stability

Cited by 34 publications

References 48 publications

Adherence to EAT-Lancet dietary recommendations for health and sustainability in the Gambia

Adherence to EAT-Lancet dietary recommendations for health and sustainability in the Gambia

The Role of Alternative Crops in an Upcoming Global Food Crisis: A Concise Review

Social-ecological interactions in a disaster context: Puerto Rican farmer households’ food security after Hurricane Maria

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