Category Archives: Nutrition

Human nutrition

Enlarging on the EAT-Lancet planetary diet report—A fresh look by CSIRO’s Mario Herrero, one of the authors
Advocacy / Agriculture / Biotechnology / Consumption / Environment / Food Security / Human Health / Intensification / Nutrition / Policy / Presentation / Pro-Poor Livestock / Report

Enlarging on the EAT-Lancet planetary diet report—A fresh look by CSIRO’s Mario Herrero, one of the authors

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Mario Herrero, a scientist formerly with ILRI and now serving as chief research scientist of agriculture and food at Australia’s CSIRO, recently gave a seminar at the University of Edinburgh’s Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies. The title of Herrero’s 19 Sep 2019 seminar was ‘Can we feed the planet and stay within planetary boundaries’. He focused on the EAT-Lancet Report on healthy diets (Commission Food in The Anthropocene: The EAT-Lancet Commission on Healthy Diets From Sustainable Food Systems, 16 Jan 2019), to which he contributed, along with 36 other experts. Continue reading →

A ‘caloric calculus’ with big consequences—healthy foods are expensive in poor countries, unhealthy foods cheap in rich countries—New IFPRI paper
Agri-Health / CGIAR / Consumption / Human Health / News clipping / Nutrition / Policy / Science paper

A ‘caloric calculus’ with big consequences—healthy foods are expensive in poor countries, unhealthy foods cheap in rich countries—New IFPRI paper

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Results of a new IFPRI study on ‘relative caloric prices’ show that many healthy foods are much more expensive in poor countries, while many unhealthy foods are much cheaper in richer countries. Continue reading →

Inoculating legume plants with nitrogen-fixing rhizobia bacteria improves yields in Ethiopia and could save USD28 million annually in fertilizer costs
Agriculture / Crop-Livestock / East Africa / Ethiopia / Legumes / Livelihoods / Nutrition / Project / Research / SLS

Inoculating legume plants with nitrogen-fixing rhizobia bacteria improves yields in Ethiopia and could save USD28 million annually in fertilizer costs

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A five-year project that promoted nitrogen fixation through the use of rhizobia bacteria in grain legumes in Ethiopia helped smallholder farmers increase their legume production by 20% and could help the country save over USD28 million annually in fertilizer costs. Continue reading →

On a frugal continent of ‘economic vegetarians’, consuming more meat means longer, healthier lives—The Economist
Advocacy / Africa / Agri-Health / Animal Production / Animal Products / Asia / China / Consumption / Dairying / Environment / Food Security / Human Health / India / Intensification / Kenya / Livelihoods / Markets / News clipping / Nutrition / Policy / Pro-Poor Livestock / Rangelands / Senegal / Trade / Value Chains

On a frugal continent of ‘economic vegetarians’, consuming more meat means longer, healthier lives—The Economist

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The Economist reports that the future of food lies in Africa. And why that’s a good thing. As Africans get richer, they will eat more meat and live longer, healthier lives. Continue reading →

Lawrence Haddad on the ‘Great Food Transformation’ promoted by the EAT Lancet ‘planetary health diet’
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Lawrence Haddad on the ‘Great Food Transformation’ promoted by the EAT Lancet ‘planetary health diet’

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Lawrence Haddad, executive director of the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) and this year’s co-winner of the World Food Prize (along with David Nabarro), has published his reaction to the recent EAT Lancet report calling for a ‘Great Food Transformation’. Continue reading →

Climate change policy must distinguish (long-lived) carbon dioxide from (short-lived) methane–Oxford study
Advocacy / Agri-Health / Animal Feeding / Climate Change / Consumption / Environment / Food Security / News clipping / Nutrition / Policy / Pro-Poor Livestock

Climate change policy must distinguish (long-lived) carbon dioxide from (short-lived) methane–Oxford study

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a group of scientists recently published a paper on the importance of distinguishing—and treating differently—two of the most common greenhouse gases. Carbon dioxide is a long-lived emission and methane a short-lived one. The paper outlined a better way to think about how much, and how long, carbon dioxide and methane gases contribute to greenhouse gas emissions budgets. Continue reading →

FAO sets the record straight–86% of livestock feed is inedible by humans
Advocacy / Agri-Health / Animal Feeding / Climate Change / Consumption / Environment / Food Security / News clipping / Nutrition / Policy / Pro-Poor Livestock

FAO sets the record straight–86% of livestock feed is inedible by humans

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FAO has set the record straight regarding not just the level of greenhouse gas that livestock emit (see yesterday’s posting on this blog) but also incorrect information about how much food (crops eatable by humans) livestock consume, the regular reporting of which is commonly used to bolster arguments for the world to go vegetarian. Continue reading →

FAO sets the record straight on flawed livestock emission comparisons–and the livestock livelihoods on the line
Advocacy / Agri-Health / Climate Change / Consumption / Environment / Food Security / News clipping / Nutrition / Policy / Pro-Poor Livestock

FAO sets the record straight on flawed livestock emission comparisons–and the livestock livelihoods on the line

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As the media frenzy caused by a ‘planetary health diet’ proposed in a new report from an EAT-Lancet commission this month continues, it is perhaps timely to recall that the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has set the record straight regarding  a flawed comparison of greenhouse gas emissions from the livestock and transport sectors, a statement that is commonly used to support arguments for the world to stop eating meat.  Continue reading →

With huge variations in meat consumption, we’re ‘all in this existential crisis together’—Vox
Advocacy / Agri-Health / Consumption / Food Security / Human Health / News clipping / Nutrition / Policy

With huge variations in meat consumption, we’re ‘all in this existential crisis together’—Vox

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The way we eat and produce food has become so destructive to the environment and our health that it now threatens the long-term survival of the human species, an international commission of 37 scientists write in a sprawling new Lancet report. Continue reading →