nutrition

We’re Still Eating The Wrong Things

August 23, 2019 By EarthWise 1 Comment

A new study published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics has found that despite efforts to increase public awareness of health issues related to diet, the amount of processed meat consumed by Americans has remained unchanged in the past 18 years. Furthermore, our intake of fish and shellfish has not increased. One quarter of US adults are still eating more unprocessed read meat than the recommended level, and less than 15% meet the current guidelines for fish and shellfish consumption.

About the only positive note is that Americans are eating less beef and more chicken than they did 18 years ago and, in fact, for the first time, the consumption of poultry exceeds that of unprocessed red meat.

Accumulating evidence has linked excessive consumption of processed meat to increased risk of obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and some cancers. The study’s authors speculate that public awareness of these linkages is not widespread enough to affect change and, in any case, factors other than health – social, cultural, and economic – have greater influence over Americans’ food choices. The top five consumed processed meats are luncheon meat, sausage, hot dogs, ham, and bacon.

The low consumption of fish and shellfish among U.S. adults could be due to high retail prices, lack of awareness of the health benefits, and concerns about mercury contamination in certain types of fish.

Future research is needed to identify barriers to reducing processed meat consumption and increased seafood consumption. Policies such as nutrition quality standards, excise taxes, health warning labels, and other interventions need to be explored.

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Americans still eat too much processed meat and too little fish

Photo, posted January 28, 2014, courtesy of Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Climate Change And Nutrients

August 15, 2019 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Ending hunger isn’t a question of producing enough food. Globally, enough food is produced to feed all 7.7 billion people on the planet. But despite this, approximately 1 in 9 people go hungry. Conflict, natural disasters, and extreme poverty are some of the main drivers of global hunger.

Climate change is another. The more frequent and intense extreme weather events increase food insecurity and malnutrition by destroying land, livestock, crops, and food supplies. Climate change makes growing crops harder every year, especially for those who lack the tools and technology to adapt.

But the challenge of reducing hunger and malnutrition is to not only produce foods that provide enough calories, but to also produce foods that make enough necessary nutrients widely available. According to new research, climate change is projected to significantly reduce the availability of critical nutrients such as protein, iron, and zinc over the next 30 years. The total impact of climate change could reduce global per capita nutrient availability of protein, iron, and zinc by 19.5%, 14.4%, and 14.6%, respectively.

While higher levels of carbon dioxide can boost growth in plants, wheat, rice, corn, barley, potatoes, soybeans, and vegetables are all projected to suffer nutrient losses of about 3% on average by 2050 due to the elevated CO2 levels.

The study, which was co-authored by an international group of researchers and published in the peer-reviewed journal, Lancet Planetary Health, represents the most comprehensive synthesis of the impacts of climate change on the availability of nutrients in the global food supply to date.

Climate change is complicating the quest to end global hunger and malnutrition.

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Rising CO2, climate change projected to reduce availability of nutrients worldwide

Photo, posted April 30, 2015, courtesy of Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

New Nutrition Labels

February 26, 2019 By EarthWise 1 Comment

Food and beverage packaging in this country has included a Nutrition Facts panel for nearly 25 years. Over 700,000 products have the labels which provide consumers with information like serving sizes, calories per serving, ingredients, and nutritional content.

Surveys indicate that 77 percent of all U.S. adults claim to use the labels at least some of the time. Whether the labels are actually useful is somewhat debatable. A couple of years ago, the FDA released a proposal to update the labels to make them more useful and to reflect more recent nutritional research. The new labels are finally going to be implemented and food manufacturers with annual sales exceeding $10 million have until January of 2020 to update their packaging with the new labels.

One of the biggest changes is that the “serving size” section of the label will be changed to more accurately reflect the actual portions consumed by the typical American. For example, a 20-ounce soft drink will now be labeled as a single serving because most people will drink the whole bottle in one sitting.

The new labels will no long list the amounts of Vitamin A and C, because recent research shows most Americans are not deficient in these nutrients. Instead, the amount of Vitamin D and potassium will be listed, two nutrients lacking in many diets. New labels will also show amounts of “added sugars”, defined as caloric sweeteners with no nutritional value. The new labels will also display the calories per serving in much large type making that piece of information far more noticeable.

There is surely more to be done to make food labeling more transparent and useful for consumers, but the new changes at least seem to be in the right direction.

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Nutrition Labels Get a Makeover: Will It Make a Difference?

Photo, posted September 9, 2014, courtesy of Mike Mozart via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Your Children’s Yellowstone

January 25, 2019 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Yellowstone National Park was the first national park in the US and according to some sources, the first in the world. It is the home of charismatic megafauna and stunning geysers that attract over four million visitors a year. It is the only place in the United States where bison and wolves can be seen in great numbers. And it is changing.

Over the next few decades of climate change, Yellowstone will quite likely see increased fire, less forest, expanding grasslands, shallower, warmer waterways, and more invasive plants. All these things will alter how and how many animals move through the landscape. Ecosystems are always changing, but climate change is transforming habitats so quickly that many plants and animals may not be able to make the transition at all.

Since 1948, the average annual temperature in the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem has gone up by 2 degrees Fahrenheit. On balance, winter is 10 days shorter and less cold. The Northern Rockies snowpack has fallen to its lowest level in eight centuries. Summers in the park are warmer, drier, and increasingly prone to fire.

Non-nutritious invasive plants like cheatgrass and desert madwort have replaced nutritious native plants. When plants like these take over, they suck moisture out of the ground early so that bison and elk cannot be sustained throughout the summer.

The behavior of elk and other animals is already changing, with many staying outside the park to nibble lawns and alfalfa fields. In turn, wolves go where the elk go. Forests and waterways are changing as well.

The rapid changes going on at Yellowstone mean that the park that our children and grandchildren will visit in the future is likely to be a very different one from the Yellowstone we remember.

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In Yellowstone National Park, warming has brought rapid changes.

Photo, posted September 7, 2016, courtesy of Mike Yang via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Throwing Off Nature’s Seasonal Clock

October 29, 2018 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Ecosystems throughout the Arctic are regulated by seasonal changes leading to a finely tuned balance between the greening of vegetation and the reproduction of animals. The rapidly warming climate and the disappearing sea ice are upending that balance.

Reducing Food Waste

October 9, 2018 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Food waste is a huge problem. About a third of all food produced globally goes to waste, and the numbers are even worse in the US. If food waste was a country, it would be the world’s third largest emitter of greenhouse gases. Worse yet, all of this takes place in a world where 850 million people are chronically undernourished.

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Greenhouse Emissions And Food Choices

August 6, 2018 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Changes in diet have often been proposed as a way to reduce overall greenhouse gas emissions. However, there has not been much research about the affordability and feasibility of such changes.

Myths About Organic Food

January 22, 2018 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

There is much to be said in favor of organic food. The organic produce industry took in $65 billion in 2016 and that farming method is clearly increasingly popular and is here to stay. Nevertheless, there are various misconceptions and inaccuracies related to organic food.

Tricks In Our Treats

October 31, 2016 By WAMC WEB

Halloween is traditionally a day when we choose to ignore the inconvenient truths about candy. Many of us overindulge on sweet treats and give little thought to what’s inside… particularly with respect to nutrition.

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Carbon Dioxide And Bees

June 21, 2016 By WAMC WEB

The decline of bee populations worldwide is a serious problem that threatens much of agriculture. From 2006 to 2011, losses in managed honeybee colonies in the U.S. averaged 33 percent a year. In recent years, beekeepers have had to replace 50 percent of their colonies each year.

The Incredible Shrinking Bison

April 18, 2016 By WAMC WEB

As the climate warms, all sorts of things are happening in the environment. We know about shrinking ice caps, retreating glaciers, strange winter weather, and so forth. But there are other things that may happen that are unexpected and puzzling.

Ugly Produce

April 4, 2016 By WAMC WEB

Estimates are that as much as 40% of produce in America is wasted. We throw out fruits and vegetables for a variety of reasons, but one of the most unfortunate is when produce is tossed simply because it doesn’t look good enough. Misshapen tomatoes, lumpy carrots, double-lobed potatoes, and crooked cucumbers end up in the waste bin instead of on our plates.

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Food Deserts

January 6, 2016 By WAMC WEB

A food desert is a geographic area – often an urban area – where affordable and nutritious food is difficult to obtain, particularly for those without access to an automobile. Food deserts disproportionately affect occupants of poor, low-income neighborhoods where there are often no groceries stores or farmer’s markets. These are places were food comes from convenience stores or fast-food chains. More than 20 million Americans are thought to live in food deserts.

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Local Food In A Global World

November 12, 2015 By WAMC WEB

In the Northeast, many are enjoying the last of autumn’s bounty. When we grow fruits and vegetables, we can choose to forgo pesticides, GMOs, or industrial fertilizer. When we shop at farmer’s markets, we support family farms and help maintain open space that we all enjoy.

Obesity And Food Energy Supply

August 13, 2015 By EarthWise

Obesity is a global health problem and is on the rise in many countries. There are many factors involved in the increasing prevalence of obesity such as increased urbanization, car dependence and sedentary occupations. Of course, the prime culprit is generally thought to be that we eat too much.