“A diverse diet is a healthy diet. Research has shown that increasing the number of species and varieties we grow and consume can deliver a full range of nutrients and benefits to nourish human health. ” (Borelli and Hunter, 2024)
“This is particularly urgent because our food systems fail to provide the nourishment we need. Food diversity in production and consumption has reached an all-time low, due to several compounding crises: climate change, land degradation, and the prioritization of mass production of cheap, low-quality food. In 2022, 3 in 10 people globally – some 2.4 billion people – were moderately to severely food insecure while more than 4 people in 10, over 3.1 billion people, were unable to afford a safe, nutritious diet particularly vulnerable groups, such as indigenous peoples. As proof of our low diverse global diet, we now obtain over 50% of our plant-based calories from only three crops: rice, wheat and maize.
“It doesn’t have to be this way. Agrobiodiversity – the wealth of different plants, animals, and micro-organisms that make up our agri-food systems – can provide a bountiful menu of different foods, species and genetic diversity to transform food production systems. If policymakers, industry and development organizations incentivize the integration of agrobiodiversity, we can improve livelihoods, reduce health risks, and make what we eat more sustainable, equitable, and resilient. ” (Borelli and Hunter, 2024)
What does food diversity offer?
“Maximizing biodiversity’s benefits demands understanding its fundamental contribution to food provision and health, including nutritional composition. The nutrient content between different species, or different breeds and plant varieties can vary greatly, as can their cost and availability throughout the seasons. Nutrient availability also differs depending on the part of the plant or animal eaten, and how it is prepared and cooked.
Our current knowledge only scratches the surface of food’s complexity. Recent innovations in biomolecular analysis have peered into the “dark matter” of food, scouring the 2,600 macronutrients, micronutrients, and other components that can impact our health. Beginning with 1,650 foods, the Periodic Table of Food Initiative is compiling data to spark innovation in crop breeding, dietary recommendations, and incentives for adopting more diverse diets at scale. ” (Borelli and Hunter, 2024)
The lessons of traditional food
“Food and culture are closely entwined. For centuries, agrobiodiversity has been part of cuisines around the world. A study conducted in Turkey (Türkiye) reported that wild food plants are still widely used in local and traditional cooking in many parts of the country. Some are eaten raw, while others are cooked, requiring more complex processing and preparation. The study also found 29 species are used in traditional herbal medicine for curing almost 40 ailments, including diabetes, indigestion, common colds, kidney stones, coughs, cardiovascular problems, and toothaches. We have evidence that indigenous food systems and the diverse foods and diets that compose them strengthen connections to land, environment, livelihoods, resilience, and well-being.” (Borelli and Hunter, 2024)
The future: school meals as an entry point
“Connecting tradition and innovation does not have to be complicated. There are many simple ways to integrate biodiversity into diets in ways that are culturally sensitive and informed by research.
One exemplary opportunity is school meals. A recent estimate is that 418 million children benefit from school meals. Evidence shows school meals improve nutrition for school children but there is room for improvement that could be filled by increased agrobiodiversity in meals. Not only can school meals provide essential nutrition to schoolchildren, but they can also be an educational resource. School meal programs also employ over 4 million people.
Public procurement that sources local produce from small-scale farmers, known as home-grown school feeding (HGSF), can solve multiple problems at once. A 2022 assessment of HGSF programs in 12 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean found evidence of healthier eating habits, improved dietary diversity, and enhanced school enrollment, increasing students’ productive potential later in life. ” (Borelli and Hunter, 2024)
Kindergarten teachers and children in Cauca, Colombia collaboratively grow vegetables, learning about the effects of weather on plant growth and the significance of soil care.
“HGSF approaches can also incentivize biodiversity cultivation through shortened supply chains. In Busia County, Kenya, the HGSF approach was piloted to diversify diets with locally sourced indigenous vegetables. This initiative has demonstrated significant potential in promoting social protection. Preliminary evidence indicates that this approach positively influenced dietary diversity in school meals, encouraged the cultivation of neglected and underutilized species, and improved economic and social outcomes for producers.
Since the pandemic, this space is gaining recognition: the Alliance joined over 120 partners as part of the School Meals Coalition hosted by the World Food Programme (WFP), which aims to improve cross-country implementation of school meal programs with an emphasis on reaching vulnerable children.” (Borelli and Hunter, 2024)
For more information on the School Meals Coalition, visit:
Persons who “eat a healthy, sustainable diet may substantially lower their risk of premature death in addition to their environmental impact, according to a new study led by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. It is the first large study to directly evaluate the impacts of adherence to recommendations in the landmark 2019 EAT-Lancet report.” The researchers named the dietary pattern outlined in the report—which emphasizes a variety of minimally processed plant foods but allows for modest consumption of meat and dairy foods—the [EAT-Lancet] Planetary Health Diet (PHD). (Bui et al., 2024; Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, 2024)
The study was published online June 10 in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
“Climate change has our planet on track for ecological disaster, and our food system plays a major role,” said corresponding author Walter Willett, professor of epidemiology and nutrition. “Shifting how we eat can help slow the process of climate change. And what’s healthiest for the planet is also healthiest for humans.”
“While other studies have found that diets emphasizing plant-based foods over animal-sourced foods could have benefits for human and planetary health, most have used one-time dietary assessments, which produce weaker results than looking at diets over a long period of time.” (Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, 2024)
The researchers used health data from more than 200,000 women and men enrolled in the Nurses’ Health Study I and II and the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study. Participants were free of major chronic diseases at the start of the study and completed dietary questionnaires every four years for up to 34 years. Participants’ diets were scored based on intake of 15 food groups—including whole grains, vegetables, poultry, and nuts—to quantify adherence to the PHD. (Bui et al., 2024; Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, 2024)
The study found that the risk of premature death was 30% lower in the top 10% of participants most closely adhering to PHD compared to those in the lowest 10%. Every major cause of death, including cancer, heart disease, and lung disease, was lower with greater adherence to this dietary pattern. (Bui et al., 2024; Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, 2024)
In addition, the researchers found that those with the highest adherence to the PHD had a substantially lower environmental impact than those with the lowest adherence, including 29% lower greenhouse gas emissions, 21% lower fertilizer needs, and 51% lower cropland use.
The researchers noted that land use reduction is particularly important as a facilitator of re-forestation, which is seen as an effective way to further reduce levels of greenhouse gases that are driving climate change. (Bui et al., 2024; Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, 2024)
Debate and Criticism
According to Lin et al. (2024), “the EAT-Lancet [planetary health] diet has sparked significant debate and criticism. Critics argue that its one-size-fits-all approach overlooks cultural and individual dietary needs, potentially leading to nutritional deficiencies in populations accustomed to different eating habits.” (Lin et al., 2024)
Beal et al. (2023) evaluated the estimated micronutrient shortfalls of the EAT–Lancet planetary health diet, and these authors reported that the EAT–Lancet diet might not provide adequate nutrients, especially in micronutrients like iron, calcium, and zinc, potentially leading to some public health issues. This diet, focusing on minimally processed plant foods and low in animal sources, may require adjustments, such as increasing nutrient-dense foods like fish, shellfish, seeds, eggs, and beef, and decreasing foods high in phytate. (Lin et al., 2024; Beal et al., 2023)
Springmann countered this assessment by Beal et al. (2023) where he stated in The Lancet Planetary Health that:
A comprehensive diet and food-system analysis could have easily identified nutrient-dense foods for population groups with special nutrient needs that are healthier, more environmentally sustainable, and affordable than what Beal and colleagues proposed. It is now well recognized that even completely plant-based diets can be nutritionally adequate for all life stages.
The planetary health diet can include low to moderate amounts of animal source foods, which makes adjusting for special needs easy and straightforward. For example, increasing the relative amounts of dark green leafy vegetables or focusing on shellfish for fish intake would increase both iron and calcium, and small amounts of nutritional yeast or algae would increase B vitamins.
Thus, eating a nutritionally adequate diet is possible without wrecking long-term health, the planet, or the pocket. The challenge is to ensure that nutritionally important foods are available in local markets, especially for those vulnerable populations most in need. (Springmann, 2023)
In response, Beal and Ortenzi (2023) stated: “We hope future efforts to design a planetary health diet address the limitations of the EAT-Lancet’s adequacy assessment… Two flaws are particularly important, first the report does not mention the assumed iron bioavailability used, which could range from 5 – 18% depending on the type of diet. The report should indicate what type of bioavailability was used. The more plant-based a diet the lower the iron bioavailability. Second, zinc was assumed to have moderate bioavailability. The high amount of phytate in the EAT-Lancet diet (> 2400 mg) indicates zinc has low bioavailability (defined by an unrefined diet containing > 1200 mg of phytate).” (Beal and Ortenzi, 2023)
For more information on phytates in diets, see:
Rethinking Phytates: The Misunderstood Compounds in Plant Foods (March 7, 2024)
In summary, Lin et al., 2024 concluded that “Achieving dietary nutrient adequacy sustainably for the global population involves complex trade-offs between environmental preservation, reducing non-communicable diseases (NCDs), and nutrient adequacy.”
Affordability of the EAT-Lancet Planetary Health Diet
Springmann et al. reported in a study published in TheLancet Planetary Health (2021) that,
“Compared with the cost of current diets, the healthy and sustainable dietary patterns were, depending on the pattern, up to 22–34% lower in cost in upper-middle-income to high-income countries on average (when considering statistical means), but at least 18–29% more expensive in lower-middle-income to low-income countries. Reductions in food waste, a favorable socioeconomic development scenario, and a fuller cost accounting that included the diet-related costs of climate change and health care in the cost of diets increased the affordability of the dietary patterns in our future projections. When these measures were combined, the healthy and sustainable dietary patterns were up to 25–29% lower in cost in low-income to lower-middle-income countries, and up to 37% lower in cost on average, for the year 2050. Variants of vegetarian and vegan dietary patterns were generally most affordable, and pescatarian diets were least affordable…” (Springmann et al., 2021)
“In high-income and upper-middle-income countries, dietary change interventions that incentivize adoption of healthy and sustainable diets can help consumers in those countries reduce costs while, at the same time, contribute to fulfilling national climate change commitments and reduce public health spending. In low-income and lower-middle-income countries, healthy and sustainable diets are substantially less costly than western diets and can also be cost-competitive in the medium-to-long term, subject to beneficial socioeconomic development and reductions in food waste. A fuller accounting of the costs of diets would make healthy and sustainable diets the least costly option in most countries in the future.” (Springmann et al., 2021)
Study Shows Cost of EAT-Lancet Planetary Health Diet in India
In a study published in Global Food Security (2021), Tata-Cornell Institute (TCI) researchers demonstrated that while Indians eat a diet that costs roughly $1 per day, the EAT-Lancet planetary health diet costs $3-$5 per person per day. To satisfy the EAT-Lancet recommendations, an individual would have to spend $1 more each day on each of three food groups: meat, fish, and poultry; dairy products; and fruit. (Gupta et al., 2021; Tata-Cornell Institute, 2021).
The researchers find that seasonality contributes to price volatility for fruit, green leafy vegetables, and other vegetables. This drives the cost of the EAT-Lancet planetary health diet as high as $6 per day at certain times of the year, though the cost is generally lower.
The EAT-Lancet planetary health diet purports to represent the least-expensive healthy nutritional regime possible in sustainable food systems. The diet is rich in micronutrient-rich foods like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts, and unsaturated oils. It includes moderate levels of seafood and poultry and very little red meat, refined grains, and added sugars. To meet the EAT-Lancet Commission’s goal of feeding 10 billion people sustainable, healthy diets by 2050, consumption of all food groups except starchy vegetables will need to be increased in South Asia.
TCI researchers recommend crop diversification and investments in rural infrastructure and well-functioning markets as measures needed to make the EAT-Lancet planetary health diet more affordable in India. (Gupta et al., 2021; TCI, 2021).
EAT-Lancet Planetary Health Diet May Increase the Economic and Physical Feasibility of 1.5° C
In a more recent study published in the journal Science Advances (2024), researchers found that, “a more sustainable, flexitarian diet increases the feasibility of the Paris Agreement climate goals in different ways,” says Florian Humpenöder, [Potsdam Institute For Climate Impact Research (PIK)] scientist and co-lead author of the study published in Science Advances. (PIK, 2024; Humpenöder et al., 2024)
“The reduction of greenhouse gas emissions related to dietary shifts, especially methane from ruminant animals raised for their meat and milk, would allow us to extend our current global CO2 budget of 500 gigatons by 125 gigatons and still stay within the limits of 1.5°C with a 50 percent chance,” he adds. (PIK, 2024; Humpenöder et al., 2024)
“Our results show that compared to continued dietary trends, a more sustainable diet not only reduces impacts from food production within the land system, such as deforestation and nitrogen losses. It also reduces GHG emissions from the land system to such an extent that it cuts economy-wide 1.5°C-compatible GHG prices in 2050 by 43 percent,” explains co-lead author Alexander Popp, leader of the working group land-use management at PIK. “Moreover, healthy diets would also reduce our dependency on carbon dioxide removal in 2050 by 39 percent,” he adds. (PIK, 2024; Humpenöder et al., 2024)
“Up to now, existing literature did not allow to single-out the contribution of dietary shifts alone for the feasibility of the 1.5°C limit. In the new study, PIK scientists investigated how dietary shifts would contribute towards the feasibility of 1.5°C transformation pathways relative to a scenario without dietary shifts. The researchers used the open-source Integrated Assessment Modelling framework REMIND-MAgPIE to simulate 1.5°C pathways, one including dietary shifts towards the EAT-Lancet Planetary Health Diet by 2050 in all world regions.” (PIK, 2024)
“The EAT-Lancet Planetary Health Diet is a flexitarian diet predominantly featuring a wide variety of plant-based foods, a marked reduction of livestock products especially in high- and middle-income regions, and restricted intake of added sugars, among other things,” says co-author Isabelle Weindl from PIK. (PIK, 2024)
However, considerable challenges are yet to be addressed: Decision-making in food policy is often dispersed across different institutions and ministries, which hinders the implementation of coherent policies in support of healthy sustainable diets. Moreover, social inclusion and compensation schemes are central for a just transition to healthy diets, the authors state.” (PIK, 2024; Humpenöder et al., 2024)
For more information on the benefits of the EAT-Lancet Planetary Health Diet, you can access a short course I wrote on the EAT-Lancet Commission’s planetary health diet from Today’s Dietitian (see the link below).
This course describes the EAT-Lancet Planetary Health Diet; discusses the principles of a flexitarian diet; describes the nutritional advantages of a flexitarian diet; examines the health and environmental benefits of a flexitarian diet; and provides strategies RDNs can use when counseling their clients on implementing a flexitarian diet.
Building on the findings of the Eat Lancet Commission on Food, Planet, and Health published in 2019, “EAT-Lancet 2.0 will accelerate progress and contribute to the 2030 agenda by including several new elements such as a greater focus on diversity and the adaptation of regional and local diets, strengthened diversity in the composition of the Commission and a new focus on food justice and social food system goals. In addition to the work of the Commission, a 12-month global consultation will be conducted with the aim of increasing local legitimacy, buy-in and adoption of the Commission’s recommendations. Finally, the EAT-Lancet 2.0 will evaluate multiple transition pathways to healthy, sustainable, and equitable food futures by using Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) like modelling” (Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, 2022).
EAT-Lancet 2.0, scheduled to be released in 2024, will be co-chaired by Walter Willett (Professor of Epidemiology and Nutrition, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health), Johan Rockström (Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research), and Shakuntala Thilsted (Global Lead, Nutrition and Public Health, WorldFish CGIAR, 2021 World Food Prize Laureate).
The EAT-Lancet 2.0 Commission is made up of 23 Commissioners from 19 countries, to reflect diverse perspectives across continents and in various fields including human health, agriculture and livestock production, political science, behavior change, food justice and environmental sustainability (Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, 2022; The EAT-Lancet 2.0 Commissioners, 2023).
References
Bui LP, Pham TT, Wang F, et al. Planetary health diet index and risk of total and cause-specific mortality in three prospective cohorts. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. June 10, 2024. Available at: https://ajcn.nutrition.org/article/S0002-9165(24)00389-7/abstract
Lin X, Wang S and Gao Y. Global trends and research hotspots of EAT-Lancet diet: a bibliometric analysis. Front. Nutr. 2024;10:1328351. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2023.1328351
Beal, T, Ortenzi, F, and Fanzo, J. Estimated micronutrient shortfalls of the EAT-lancet planetary health diet. Lancet Planet Health. 2023;7:e233–7.
Springmann M. Eating a nutritionally adequate diet is possible without wrecking long-term health, the planet of the pocket. Lancet Planet Health. 2023;7(7):E544.
Beal T, Ortenzi T. Authors’ reply. Eating a nutritionally adequate diet is possible without wrecking long-term health, the planet or the pocket. Lancet Planet. Health. 2023;7(7):E545.
Springmann M, Clark MA, Rayner M, Scarborough P, Webb P. The global and regional costs of healthy and sustainable dietary patterns: a modelling study. Lancet Planet Health. 2021;5(11):e797-e807. Erratum in: Lancet Planet Health. 2021;5(12):e861.
Gupta S, Vemireddy V, Singh DK, Pingali P. Ground truthing the cost of achieving the EAT lancet recommended diets: Evidence from rural India. Glob Food Sec. 2021;28:100498.
Humpenöder F, Popp A, Merfort L, et al. Food matters: Dietary shifts increase the feasibility of 1.5°C pathways in line with the Paris Agreement. Science Advances. 2024;10(13): eadj3832.
Given the numerous positive attributes of edible insects, including a low environmental footprint, high food conversion ratio, rapid growth and nutritional values, a new review published in the journal Scientific Reports (2024) argues that consuming edible insects can play a vital role in promoting a more sustainable food system. Omuse et al. 2024 compiled and analyzed the fragmented database on edible insects and identified potential drivers that elucidate insect consumption, globally, focusing on promoting a sustainable food system.
These authors identified 2205 insect species, consumed across 128 countries globally. Among continents, Asia has the highest number of edible insects (932 species), followed by North America (mainly Mexico) and Africa. The countries with the highest consumption of insects are Mexico (450 species), Thailand (272 species), India (262 species), DRC (255 species), China (235 species), Brazil (140 species), Japan (123 species), and Cameroon (100 species). (Omuse et al, 2024)
Their study also revealed some common and specific practices related to edible insect access and utilization among countries and regions. They noted that, “Although insect consumption is often rooted in cultural practices, it exhibits correlations with land cover, the geographical presence of potentially edible insects, the size of a country’s population, and income levels.” They further point out that “The practice of eating insects is linked to the culture of people in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, while increased consciousness and the need for food sustainability are driving most of the European countries to evaluate eating insects. Therefore, edible insects are becoming an increasingly significant part of the future of planetary food systems.” And because of this, “more proactive efforts are required to promote them for their effective contribution to achieving sustainable food production.” (Omuse et al., 2024)
Scientists also believe that humans consuming insects for nutrition, or the practice of entomophagy, may play a role in enhancing global food security. The practice of entomophagy –has increased in popularity across the globe in recent years. Insect consumption is highest in tropical countries, where warmer climates help insects thrive, as well as in countries that face food scarcity. For example, crickets provide high nutritional content and have a low environmental impact, which makes them great allies in the fight against climate change. (Jansen, 2023)
Crickets are rich in macronutrients (i.e., protein, fat, carbohydrates) and micronutrients (i.e., vitamins and minerals). Protein from crickets has been reported to be as high as 62 to 71 grams per 100 grams of dry weight versus animal livestock at 27 grams per 100 grams of dry weight. In addition to the high protein content, crickets are also high in vitamins A, B, C, D, E, and K and minerals such as calcium, potassium, magnesium, phosphorus, sodium, iron, zinc, manganese, and copper. These macro- and micronutrients provide essential nourishment to humans. (Jansen, 2023)
Figure 1 provides an overview of the nutrient composition of edible insects (Zhou et al, 2022)
Figure 1: Nutrient Composition of Edible Insects
Environmental Impact
Crickets have a low environmental impact due to the lower methane emission generation compared to cattle, small land footprint, and high food conversion rate. Compared to cattle, crickets produce 80% less methane, a potent greenhouse gas that has more than 80 times the warming power of carbon dioxide over the first 20 years after it reaches the atmosphere. (Jansen, 2023)
For more information on the potential benefits of consuming insects (or entomophagy), including a recipe for “Cricket Leather,” read the article I wrote titled, “Consuming Insects Can Contribute to a Sustainable Planet” (McCullum-Gomez, 2018) at the link below:
Consuming Insects Can Contribute to a Sustainable Planet
As reported in a recent review published in the journal Nutrition Reviews (2024),
“Although the use of edible insects has been accepted in some areas of the world, entomophagy is not preferred in some countries due to sociocultural conditions, health concerns, neophobia, and entomophobia. Many people do not accept the direct consumption of raw insects, but insects can be transformed into more preferred forms by using different cooking techniques. Some ground edible insects are satisfactory in terms of nutritional value and have a reasonable level of acceptability when added to products such as bread, tortilla, and pasta in varying percentages. The world market value of edible insects was estimated to be US$3.2 million in 2021 and US$17.6 billion in 2032.” (Turan et al., 2024)
Food Security
Consumption of edible insects can provide a sustainable alternative for food security in Latin America (Abril et al., 2022). “For instance, the use of insects as raw material, because they have a high protein content comparable to animal-based foods. Specifically, ants and crickets can contain between 9 and 77% protein of dry weight, while beef contains between 25 and 28%.” Furthermore, “there is evidence that insects produce fewer greenhouse gases during their production, for example, pigs produce between 10 and 100 times more greenhouse gases per kg of weight.” (Abril et al., 2022) The United States, Mexico, Chile, Peru, and Argentina have begun to develop and consume these products; thus, promoting different and new ventures. Finally, large-scale production of insect-based food products could help solve or even prevent the looming food problem and contribute to the sustainable development goals set by the United Nations. (Abril et al., 2022)
Matandirotya et al. (2022) reported that in Africa, “In addition, being a source of nutritious food, edible insects can also be a source of establishing sustainable livelihoods, as well as being able to be commercialized, thus further creating employment opportunities and economic growth. Some of the notable edible insects in abundance on the continent include termites, ants, crickets and caterpillars. Our study recommends that Africa should commercialize edible insect production, in addition to preservation processing that leads to the eradication of perennial food insecurity and malnutrition and improves environmental health, as well as developing sustainable food systems. We also further recommend the establishment of food safety guidelines on edible insects as most African countries do not have such a plan in place currently.” (Matandirotya et al., 2022)
In Kenya, Coppoolse et al. (2023) found, “that Zn [Zinc] would cease to be a problem nutrient when including house crickets to children’s diets (population reference intake coverage for Zn increased from 89 % to 121 % in the best-case scenario). FBR [food-based dietary recommendations] based on both scenarios could ensure nutrient adequacy for all nutrients except for fat, but energy percentage (E%) for fat was higher when house crickets were included in the diet (23 E% v. 19 E%). This maneuver, combined with realistic changes in dietary practices, could therefore improve dietary Zn content and ensure adequacy for twelve nutrients for Kenyan children. Further research is needed to render these theoretical recommendations, practical.” (Coppoolse et al., 2023)
The Insects to Feed the World Conference will take place in Singapore from June 19-22, 2024.
This international event will “bring together researchers and industry professionals from around the world to exchange ideas and the latest advancements in the field of insects for feed and food.”
Learn more about the Insects to Feed the World Conference at:
Omuse, E.R., Tonnang, H.E.Z., Yusuf, A.A. et al. The global atlas of edible insects: analysis of diversity and commonality contributing to food systems and sustainability. Sci Rep. 2024; 14:5045. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-55603-7
Zhou, Y.; Wang, D.; Zhou, S.; Duan, H.; Guo, J.; Yan, W. Nutritional composition, health benefits, and application value of edible insects: A review. Foods. 2022;11:3961: https://doi.org/10.3390/foods11243961
McCullum-Gomez C. Consuming insects can contribute to a sustainable planet. Hunger and Environmental Nutrition (HEN) Post. Summer 2018. Available at:
Turan Y, Berber D, Sesal NC. Could insects be an alternative food source? A comprehensive review. Nutrition Reviews. 2024; nuae019: https://doi.org/10.1093/nutrit/nuae019
Abril S, Pinzón M, Hernández-Carrión M and Sánchez-Camargo AdP. Edible insects in Latin America: A sustainable alternative for our food security. Front. Nutr. 2022;9:904812. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2022.904812
Matandirotya NR, Filho WL, Mahed G, Maseko B, Murandu CV. Edible insects consumption in Africa towards environmental health and sustainable food systems: A bibliometric study. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022. 11;19(22): 14823. doi: 10.3390/ijerph192214823.
Coppoolse H, Borgonjen-van den Berg KJ, Chopera P, Hummel M, Grimble G, Brouwer ID, Melse-Boonstra A. The potential contribution of house crickets to the dietary zinc content and nutrient adequacy in young Kenyan children: a linear programming analysis using Optifood. Br J Nutr. 2023;129(3):478-490. doi: 10.1017/S0007114522000915.
Eating more ultraprocessed foods is linked to a higher risk of cognitive decline and stroke, even if a person is trying to adhere to a Mediterranean diet, the DASH diet or the MIND diet, a new study published in the journal Neurology has reported. All three diets are plant-based, focused on consuming more fruits and vegetables, whole grains, beans and seeds while limiting sugar, red meat and ultraprocessed foods. On the flip side, eating more unprocessed or minimally processed foods was linked with a 12% lower risk of cognitive impairment, according to the new study published in the journal Neurology (LaMotte, 2024; Bhave et al., 2024).
Associations Between Ultra-Processed Food Consumption and Adverse Brain Health Outcomes (June 11, 2024 issue of Neurology)
Ultraprocessed foods include prepackaged soups, sauces, frozen pizza, ready-to-eat meals and pleasure foods such as hot dogs, sausages, French fries, sodas, store-bought cookies, cakes, candies, doughnuts, ice cream and many more.
Such foods are typically high in calories, added sugar and salt and low in fiber, all of which can contribute to cardiometabolic health problems, weight gain, obesity, type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure, experts say. (LaMotte, 2024)
An increased risk of stroke
“The study analyzed data on 30,000 people participating in the REGARD, or REasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke study, made up of 50% Whites and 50% Blacks in a nationally diverse group of people who have been followed for up to 20 years. The risk of stroke was 8% higher for people who added the most ultraprocessed foods to their diet as compared with those who ate minimally processed foods, said study author and neurologist Dr. W. Taylor Kimberly, chief of the division of neurocritical care at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.
That risk rose to 15% for Black participants, likely due to the impact of ultraprocessed foods on high blood pressure in that population, Kimberly said. However, if a person ate more unprocessed or minimally processed foods, the risk of stroke dropped by 9%, the study found.” (LatMotte, 2024; Bhave et al., 2024)
Do Ultraprocessed Foods Sabotage Efforts to Follow a Healthy Diet?
“What is it about ultraprocessed foods that may allow them to sabotage efforts to follow a healthy diet? It could be their poor nutrient composition and tendency to spike blood sugars, which can lead to type 2 diabetes, obesity, elevated blood pressure and high cholesterol, said Peipei Gao and Zhendong Mei in an editorial published with the study (Gao and Mei, 2024).
Mei is a research fellow in medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, while Gao is a graduate student in nutrition visiting Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, also in Boston. Neither was involved in the study. Type 2 diabetes, obesity, elevated blood pressure and high cholesterol are all key risk factors for vascular disease in the heart and brain, they wrote. (LaMotte, 2024)
The impact on blood vessels that leads to stroke and cognitive decline may also be due “to the presence of additives including emulsifiers, colorants, sweeteners, and nitrates/nitrites, which have been associated with disruptions in the gut microbial ecosystem and inflammation,” they added. (LaMotte, 2024)
Growing dangers of ultraprocessed foods
Studies on the dangers of eating ultraprocessed foods are piling up. According to a February review of 45 meta-analyses on almost 10 million people, eating 10% more ultraprocessed foods raised the risk of developing or dying from dozens of adverse health conditions.
That 10% increase was considered “baseline,” and adding even more ultraprocessed foods might increase the risk, experts say.
There was strong evidence that a higher intake of ultraprocessed foods was associated with about a 50% higher risk of cardiovascular disease-related death and common mental disorders, according to the review. (LaMotte, 2024)
Bhave VM, Oladele CR, Ament Z et al. Associations between ultra-processed food consumption and adverse brain health outcomes. Neurology. 2024;102(11):e209432. doi: 10.1212/WNL.0000000000209432.
“Be part of the Plan”, the theme of IDB 2024, is a call to action for all stakeholders to halt and reverse the loss of biodiversity by supporting the implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, also referred to as the The Biodiversity Plan.
The Biodiversity Plan offers opportunities for cooperation and partnerships among diverse actors.
“Governments, indigenous peoples and local communities, non-governmental organizations, lawmakers, businesses, and individuals are encouraged to highlight the ways in which they are supporting the implementation of the Biodiversity Plan. Everyone has a role to play and therefore can Be Part of the Plan.”
According to a new UN report, “Households across all continents wasted over 1 billion meals a day in 2022, while 783 million people were affected by hunger and a third of humanity faced food insecurity.” Food waste also contributes to the triple planetary crisis of climate change, nature and biodiversity loss, and pollution and waste (UNEP Press Release, 2024).
Food waste is expensive too. The 2024 UN Food Waste Index report — which measured food waste at the consumer and retail level across more than 100 countries — found that over a trillion dollars’ worth of food gets disposed every year, from households to grocery stores, across the globe (UNEP, 2024; Delgado, 2024).
“Such waste takes a significant toll on the environment. The process of producing food — the raising of animals, the land and water use, and the subsequent pollution that goes with it — is horribly intensive on the planet. Food waste squanders those efforts, and then makes it worse: as it rots in landfills, it creates methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. Food waste alone is responsible for an estimated 8 to 10 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, according to the report. To put that into perspective, if food waste were a country, it would be third in emissions produced, behind only the United States and China.” (Delgado, 2024; UNEP, 2024)
“Food waste reduction is “an opportunity to reduce costs and to tackle some of the biggest environmental and social issues of our time: fighting climate change and addressing food insecurity,” the authors of the report write.” (Delgado, 2024)
“Food waste might seem like an easy problem to solve — just stop wasting food. But in order to snuff food waste out, individuals, businesses, and policymakers alike will need to make some serious changes — and those changes will look different for each country. Global food waste is not just a consumer-level problem, but also a nasty side effect of inefficient food systems that have environmental and social implications.” (Delgado, 2024)
“The UN has the goal of slashing food waste in half by 2030. For that to happen, the authors of the Food Waste Index say there’s one crucial step all countries need to do: data collection. You can’t stop wasting food until you know how much food you’re wasting.” (Delgado, 2024; UNEP, 2024)
The report uses a three-level methodology with each level increasing in accuracy and utility. The first level is an estimate using preexisting food waste data from countries. For countries that haven’t yet started collecting data on food waste, UNEP took data from other nearby countries that had similar income levels and then extrapolated that information to create estimates. These figures are a helpful start to understanding the scale at which food waste may exist in a country, but the report emphasizes that most of the Level 1 estimates are not accurate enough to use beyond that.
To clarify which estimates can be used for understanding the scale of a problem and which can be used beyond that, the report also assigned a “confidence” rating to each Level 1 estimate — high, medium, low, very low, or no rating. Only 11 countries were assigned a high confidence rating for household food waste estimates. Of these, Saudi Arabia had the highest amount of household food waste per person annually, at a little over 231 pounds per person. Bhutan had the lowest, at just under 42 pounds per person.” (Delgado, 2024; UNEP, 2024)
How do you measure food waste?
“According to the report — which was spearheaded by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and co-authored by the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP), a UK-based climate organization — households contributed to 60 percent of all food waste generated globally in 2022, compared to nearly 28 percent for food service and a little under 13 percent for retailers.” (Delgado, 2024; UNEP, 2024)
“The report uses a three-level methodology with each level increasing in accuracy and utility. The first level is an estimate using preexisting food waste data from countries. For countries that haven’t yet started collecting data on food waste, UNEP took data from other nearby countries that had similar income levels and then extrapolated that information to create estimates. These figures are a helpful start to understanding the scale at which food waste may exist in a country, but the report emphasizes that most of the Level 1 estimates are not accurate enough to use beyond that.” (Delgado, 2024; UNEP 2024)
“Only four G20 countries (Australia, Japan, UK, the USA) and the European Union have food waste estimates suitable for tracking progress to 2030. Canada and Saudi Arabia have suitable household estimates, with Brazil’s estimate expected late 2024. In this context, the report serves as a practical guide for countries to consistently measure and report food waste.” (UNEP Press Release, 2024)
“The data confirms that food waste is not just a ‘rich country’ problem, with levels of household food waste differing in observed average levels for high-income, upper-middle, and lower-middle-income countries by just 7 kg per capita. At the same time, hotter countries appear to generate more food waste per capita in households, potentially due to higher consumption of fresh foods with substantial inedible parts and a lack of robust cold chains.” (UNEP Press Release, 2024)
Out of six different regions of the world, Latin America and the Caribbean is the region that wastes the most food annually (Delgado, 2024; UNEP, 2024). In low-income countries, people may waste food due to lack of refrigeration. In contrast, in high-income countries, people who waste food may be less concerned about waste and resource use (Delgado, 2024; UNEP, 2024).
Learn useful tips for reducing food waste in your household here:
And finally, click on the link below to learn how to use a wide variety of fruit and vegetable peels (apples, carrots, citrus fruits, eggplant, kiwis, mangos, potatoes, and tomatoes) to reduce food waste and increase the nutritional content of your meals:
Using Fruit and Vegetable Peels in Your Meals: How To
United Nations Environment Report (UNEP). Food Waste Index Report 2024. Think Eat Save: Tracking Progress to Halve Global Food Waste. Nairobi, Kenya: UNEP. March 27, 2024. Available at: https://wedocs.unep.org/handle/20.500.11822/45230
Song J, Jeong J, Eun-Hee Kim E-H, et al. A strategy for healthy eating habits of daily fruits revisited: A metabolomics study. Current Research in Food Science. 2023;6: 100440.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crfs.2023.100440
The single largest day of action in the fight against global food waste. See the links below to learn about the various ways you can show your support and make a difference to prevent food waste on this day to Stop Food Waste (and every day):
RECIPES & TIPS
It all starts at home.
Check out the link for food waste prevention tips including recipes, the Stop Food Waste digital cookbook, and inspiration from leading chefs.
Take the Stop Food Waste Day pledge and share it across your personal and professional social media platforms
Download the social media cards on this page and use them across your social media platforms, adding your own message and always using the hashtag: #StopFoodWasteDay and remembering to tag our accounts: Twitter:@_stopfoodwasteday_ LinkedIn:@Stop Food Waste Day Instagram:@stop_food_waste_day Facebook:@stopfoodwasteday
Download the digital and/or print posters and use them in your communications campaigns, or as materials to support your very own Stop Food Waste Day activities.
CAMPAIGN TOOLKIT
Download the full campaign toolkit by clicking here. Or, explore the assets in more detail below:
A team of economists dig into a relatively under-studied area: Climate inflation.
Climate change is already increasing food prices and overall inflation, and these effects are likely to accelerate in the future, according to a new study published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment.
“The findings add heft to a growing collection of research on the effects of climate change on the economy. In this area, climate-related inflation has been relatively under-studied—a key oversight “because rising or unstable prices threaten economic and human welfare as well as political stability.”
The analysis rests on more than 27,000 month-by-month data points on prices of food and other consumer goods since 1996 gathered from 121 nations around the world. The researchers combined this information with data on temperature and other climate factors, controlling for a suite of variables to identify likely causal links between changes in weather and higher food prices.
In 2022, for example, a severe summer heat wave in Europe reduced food supplies and triggered an increase of two-thirds of a percentage point in food prices and one-third of a percentage point of overall inflation.
Of the various climate factors analyzed, increases in average monthly temperature have the strongest effect on food prices, the researchers found. But increases in the day-to-day variability of temperatures from day to day and floods also contribute to boosting food prices.
The researchers then used data from climate models to forecast the effect of future climate change on food prices and overall inflation. Several previous studies have used historical weather data to identify the impacts of changing climate parameters on inflation. But this is the first to run the tape forward and calculate implications for the future.
Climate change could cause food prices to increase by 1.5 to 1.8 percentage points annually by the middle of the next decade, the researchers report. The lower number reflects a best-case (that is, lowest greenhouse gas emissions) scenario, and the higher number a worst-case (highest emissions) scenario. Overall inflation is projected to increase 0.8-0.9 percentage points annually by 2035 due to climate change.
Shorter term, more irregular price shocks are also likely to come from increased frequency and intensity of extreme heat. The level of average warming projected for 2035 could result in heat waves with effects on prices 30-50% greater than those of the 2022 European heat wave, they calculated.
Climate-related inflation is projected to occur all over the world. It is likely to be most pronounced in regions that are already hot—including many countries of the Global South that have contributed relatively little to historical emissions and have less climate resilience. But climate inflation is likely to pack a wallop even in the Global North, the researchers found.
Looking further into the future, low-emission and high-emission scenarios diverge, underscoring the importance of climate action to hold climate inflation in check. By 2060, inflation due to climate change is projected to raise food prices by 2.2-4.3 percentage points annually, depending on the emissions scenario, and boost overall inflation by 1.1 to 2.2 percentage points yearly.
“Our results suggest that climate change is likely to alter inflation seasonality, increase inflation volatility, inflation heterogeneity and place persistent pressures on inflation levels,” the researchers write.”
References
Kotz, M., Kuik, F., Lis, E. et al. Global warming and heat extremes to enhance inflationary pressures. Commun Earth Environ. 2024;5:116. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-023-01173-x
“Nearly 60,000 hectares of forest was cleared in Brazil’s Cerrado and Amazon in late 2023, with likely ties to the supply chains of some of the world’s largest soy exporters including Bunge and Cargill, a report has found.
The Cerrado is the second-largest Brazilian biome, and one of the world’s most biodiverse regions. Covering 22% of the country, it is home to over 6,000 tree species. However, over the last few years, it has faced increasing rates of land conversion mainly linked to soy and beef production.”
Another new study by scientists from Brazil and Europe published in the journal Diversity and Distribution looked at how man-made climate change could possibly trigger the migration of thousand of plant species in Brazil’s Cerrado.
Cerrado plants and climate change
“A new study by scientists from Brazil and Europe has looked at how warming temperatures might force over 7,000 plant species in the Cerrado to move. Plants, like animals, have a geographical range.
This is the area where the temperature, rainfall, and general conditions make it just right for them to survive and grow. Climate change is messing with those perfect conditions, and plants are feeling the heat – literally.
“Every plant and animal species has a ‘geographical range’ – the area where conditions are suitable for it to live,” said Mateus Silva, from the University of Exeter.
Cerrado ecology
Think of the Cerrado as a smaller, but no less incredible, cousin to the Amazon rainforest. It’s a place packed with roughly 12,000 flowering plant species. From towering trees to delicate orchids, the Cerrado’s plants purify the air we breathe, support vast networks of wildlife, and sustain indigenous communities.
Sadly, this ecological treasure chest is under siege. Relentless conversion for agriculture and cattle ranching has eaten away roughly half of the Cerrado. This destruction doesn’t just mean lost beauty – it unravels delicately balanced ecosystems, jeopardizes countless species, and disrupts the natural services these landscapes provide, like water cycling and climate regulation.
Uphill Cerrado plants due to climate change
As temperatures rise globally, many plants instinctively seek cooler havens at higher altitudes. “As the climate warms, plants’ ranges are shifting, with many species going uphill,” said study co-author Mateus Silva from the University of Exeter.
This uphill migration reveals nature’s resilience – even slow-moving plants adapt to survive. Yet, this strategy has stark limits. Lowland plants may find some refuge uphill, assuming they can move fast enough to keep pace with the changing climate and aren’t blocked by human-made obstacles.
But the climb brings a hidden cost: it squeezes those already at higher elevations. Plants on mountaintops have no escape. As temperatures increase, they face a shrinking world with nowhere left to climb…
Remember, the Cerrado is a remarkable and irreplaceable part of our planet. Its thousands of plant species, some of which cannot be found anywhere else in the world, are in a race for survival. Climate change is pushing them uphill, but human destruction is cutting off their escape route. While the science is important, it’s time to move beyond simply watching and start taking serious action.
Soy production linked to “shocking” land clearance in Brazil’s Cerrado and the Amazon, study says. Carbon Pulse. March 15, 2024. Available at: https://carbon-pulse.com/269193/
Eating ultra-processed foods raises the risk of developing or dying from dozens of adverse health conditions, according to a new “umbrella review” of 45 meta-analyses. The authors found consistent evidence linking higher intakes of ultra-processed foods with over 70% of the 45 different health outcomes assessed.
The umbrella review, a high-level evidence summary, included 45 distinct pooled meta-analyses from 14 review articles associating ultra-processed foods with adverse health outcomes. The review articles were all published in the past three years and involved 9.9 million people. None of the studies were funded by companies involved in the production of ultra-processed foods.
Researchers graded each study as having credible or strong, highly suggestive, suggestive, weak or no evidence. All the studies in the review were published in the past three years, and none was funded by companies involved in the production of ultra-processed foods, the authors said.
Researchers found highly suggestive evidence that eating more ultra-processed foods raised the risk of obesity by 55%, sleep disorders by 41%, development of type 2 diabetes by 40% and the risk of depression by 20%.
However, evidence was limited for an association between consuming ultra-processed food and asthma, gastrointestinal health and cardiometabolic risk factors such as high blood fats and low levels of “good” high-density lipoprotein, or HDL, cholesterol, according to the analysis.
According to the authors, “Greater exposure to ultra-processed food was associated with a higher risk of adverse health outcomes, especially cardiometabolic, common mental disorder, and mortality outcomes. These findings provide a rationale to develop and evaluate the effectiveness of using population based and public health measures to target and reduce dietary exposure to ultra-processed foods for improved human health. They also inform and provide support for urgent mechanistic research.” (Lane et al., 2024)
The study found only suggestive or no evidence for an association between ultra-processed foods and cancer, which was a surprising finding, according to Dr. Fang Fang Zhang, a cancer epidemiologist at Tufts University, who has researched the role of ultra-processed foods and cancer.
“Obesity is a risk factor for 13 types of cancers. Ultra-processed foods increase weight gain, and obesity increases cancer,” she said. In an August 2022 study she coauthored, Zhang found men who ate the most ultra-processed foods of any type had a 29% higher risk of developing colorectal cancer.
“One reason for the unexpected finding is that research on ultra-processed foods is still in its infancy, said study coauthor Mathilde Touvier, research director at the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research, a public research organization.”
“We definitely need more studies to be able to upgrade the weight of evidence for cancer, for instance,” said Touvier, also the principal investigator of the NutriNet-Santé cohort, a long-term study of the relationship between nutrition and health.”
“So it’s not because there’s nothing there, it’s just because we need additional research,” she said. (LaMotte, 2024; Lane et al., 2024)
The making of ultra-processed foods
“Ultra-processed foods are much more than simply “modified” foods, said nutrition researcher Dr. Carlos Monteiro, head of the Centre for Epidemiological Studies in Health and Nutrition at the University of São Paulo in Brazil.”
“They are formulations of often chemically manipulated cheap ingredients such as modified starches, sugars, oils, fats, and protein isolates, with little if any whole food added,” said Monteiro, a professor of nutrition and public health, in an accompanying editorial.
“Monteiro coined the term ultra-processed food in 2009 when he developed NOVA, a system of classifying foods into four categories. Group one consists of unprocessed or minimally processed foods such as fruits, vegetables, eggs and milk. Group two includes culinary ingredients such as salt, herbs, oils and the like. Group three are processed foods that combine groups one and two — canned goods and frozen vegetables are examples.”
Group four are ultra-processed foods, which Monteiro said are made flavorful and enticing by using combinations of artificial flavors, colors, thickeners and other additives that have been “linked by experimental and epidemiological evidence to imbalances in gut microbiota and systemic inflammation.”
“No reason exists to believe that humans can fully adapt to these products,” Monteiro wrote in the editorial. “The body may react to them as useless or harmful, so its systems may become impaired or damaged, depending on their vulnerability and the amount of ultra-processed food consumed.”
“Since Monteiro’s definition of ultra-processed food appeared, nutritionists, researchers and public health officials have grown concerned about the increasing prevalence of such foods in the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada and many developing nations.”
“Two-thirds of the calories children consume in the US are ultra-processed, while about 60% of adult diets are ultra-processed,” Zhang said.
“I think it’s like when we invented cars,” she added. “Yes, they bring us convenience, but if we use a car for everything and we don’t exercise we have problems. We need new strategies to bring down the consumption of ultra-processed food to a healthier level.” (LaMotte, 2024; Lane et al, 2024)
How to reduce the use of ultra-processed foods
Prepare food and cook it at home. Experts also agree that in today’s fast-paced world, giving up the convenience of ready-to-heat and ready-to-eat foods is difficult. In addition, it’s nearly impossible to avoid them, as over 70% of the US food supply is comprised of ultra-processed food.
Regulation by public health agencies and governments should be considered, Monteiro said, such as front-of-pack warning labels; restriction of advertising, especially to children; and the prohibition of sales of ultra-processed foods in or near schools and hospitals, all while making minimally processed foods more affordable and accessible. (LaMotte, 2024; Lane et al, 2024)
Below are examples of octagonal nutrient warning labels that exist on food and beverages in Mexico, Colombia, and other countries in Latin America:
To reduce one’s intake of ultra-processed foods, take the following steps:
1. Read and compare product labels and try to choose less processed alternatives. For example, swap flavored yogurt for plain yogurt with added fruit.
2. Focus on what you can add to your diet (as opposed to take away) such as fresh or frozen fruits, vegetables, beans, and legumes.
3. Be mindful of beverages. Sugar-sweetened beverages have no nutritional value. Swap them out for water.
4. When eating out, go to local restaurants and cafés instead of fast-food chains. Local eateries are less likely to make ultra-processed foods.
5. For children, fill their plates with plenty of whole foods, including fresh fruits and vegetables, nuts, whole grains, and legumes (such as beans, peas, and lentils). Cut back on the amount of ultra-processed foods in their diets. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) reports that glyphosate, a broad-spectrum herbicide, is present in many foods, especially ultra-processed foods. Many genetically engineered (GE) crops are engineered to survive being sprayed with the glyphosate – a broad-spectrum herbicide – during the growing season. Most GE crops are grown to make ultra-processed foods and animal feed. The AAP recommends reading food labels carefully, and consider choosing foods and drinks that are free of genetically-engineered ingredients (look for the Non-GMO Project Verified label, or organic certified label), whenever possible (Abrams & Landrigan – AAP, December 2023).
References
Lane ML, Gamage E, Du S, et al. Ultra-processed food exposure and adverse health outcomes: umbrella review of epidemiological meta-analyses. BMJ. 2024;384:e077310 https://www.bmj.com/content/384/bmj-2023-077310
Wang K, Du M, Khandpur N. Association of ultra-processed food consumption with colorectal cancer risk among men and women: results from three prospective US cohort studies. BMJ. 2022;378:e068921.
Sustainable RDN 