Telecoupled impacts of livestock trade on non-communicable diseases

Abstract

Background: Non-communicable diseases (NCDs)-chronic human health problems such as cardiovascular diseases linked to poor diets-are significant challenges for sustainable development and human health. The international livestock trade increases accessibility to cheap animal products that may expand diet-related NCDs worldwide. However, it is not well understood how the complex interconnections among livestock production, trade, and consumption affect NCD risks around the world. Method: Our global dataset included 33 livestock products (meat, offal, and animal fats) in 156 countries from 1992 to 2011. We employed path analysis to uncover how livestock trade contributes to diet-related NCDs and identify underlying environmental and socioeconomic factors of livestock trade. Then we performed trend analyses to investigate long-term changes in livestock production and trade at a country level. Results: We found that livestock consumption through livestock import increased diet-related NCD risks. This was especially true in developing countries, which in general were not well prepared in terms of policies for NCD risk reduction, and where there was a lack of funding to implement the policies. Population size and income level were the main factors affecting global livestock import activities. Conclusions: Our results suggest that new governance structures to incorporate separate international efforts, improved national policies, and bolstering individual efforts are needed to decrease NCD risks, particularly in developing countries.

The spatial and temporal dynamics of global meat trade networks

“…The combined use of cluster analysis and mixed-effects modeling provides a comprehensive perspective of the dynamics of meat trade networks. Consistent with previous findings, population size in both sending and receiving countries significantly contributes to increases in meat trade from 1995 to 2015 1,2,10 . In receiving countries, per capita GDP has a positive impact on the quantities of meat imports after 2008, but these coefficients have high uncertainty.…”

“…In other words, although many countries fulfill their dietary energy requirements, they import meat products to satisfy consumers' various meat preferences that are not produced domestically due to limited agricultural land and/or a large population 6,10,16 . Elevated levels of meat imports in countries with increased food availability may enable diets high in meat and thus increase diet-related, non-communicable diseases [10][11][12] . From our network model results, the non-significant but consistent positive coefficients for sending countries and negative coefficients for receiving countries' pastureland lends some support to our hypothesis that meat is traded from areas of greater pastureland to areas with less pastureland 10 .…”

“…Elevated levels of meat imports in countries with increased food availability may enable diets high in meat and thus increase diet-related, non-communicable diseases [10][11][12] . From our network model results, the non-significant but consistent positive coefficients for sending countries and negative coefficients for receiving countries' pastureland lends some support to our hypothesis that meat is traded from areas of greater pastureland to areas with less pastureland 10 . Furthermore, meat production for exports may indirectly affect the environment and biodiversity through land use changes for animal feed production [7][8][9] .…”

“…Countries with less pastureland may depend on meat imports from countries with more pastureland. Fifth, countries with high food availability for human consumption tend to have both high meat exports and imports 10,16 . Substantial domestic meat supply is essential for the availability of meat products for export 58 .…”

“…For example, meat production for export can result in land use change and biodiversity loss 7 – 9 . Likewise, diets high in meat acquired through trade are positively associated with rates of diet-related, non-communicable diseases worldwide 10 – 12 .…”