Sustainable diets acceptable to local preferences and cultures

Date:
February 1, 2022
Source:
University of Delaware
Summary:
New research examines how staple grains can be used as an effective
food group for dietary shifts that can be culturally appropriate
as well as environmentally sustainable.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
One of the biggest factors in determining the health of humans and the environment is the foods that we grow and consume. While there have been
many efforts over the years to define sustainable diets and to try to
get people all over the world the proper nutrition that they need, many
of these efforts do not take into account local dietary preferences or
the adverse impacts that growing certain foods have on the environment.


==========================================================================
A new paper from the University of Delaware's Dongyang Wei and Kyle
Davis attempts to remedy this situation by looking at how staple grains
can be used as an effective food group for dietary shifts that can be culturally appropriate as well as environmentally sustainable.

Their paper was recently published in Environmental Research Letters.

Wei, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Geography and Spatial
Sciences, served as the lead author on the paper and said that
while previous studies have focused on parts of this issue -- such
as considering foods that have lower environmental impacts and offer
higher nutrition levels -- this study wanted to incorporate local dietary preferences to see if the proposed shifts would actually be feasible.

"We wanted to take the local preferences and the cultural acceptance into consideration because that will increase the chances that sustainable
diets will actually be accepted," said Wei.

Working with Davis, assistant professor in the College of Earth, Ocean
and Environment's Department of Geography and Spatial Sciences and
the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources' Department of Plant
and Soil Sciences and a resident faculty member with UD's Data Science Institute, Wei examined how country-specific shifts in cereal supply,
which currently accounts for more than 40% of dietary calories, protein,
iron and zinc world-wide, could contribute to more sustainable diets.



========================================================================== While cereals are not consumed as widely in the United States, western
Europe and Australia, they play a vital nutritional role in many other countries.

"Regions facing food security challenges include the Middle East, Africa
and South Asia," said Wei. "These areas are also the ones that consume
large proportions of cereals, so sustainable dietary shifts on cereals
can have larger impacts in these places." The researchers identified
two shifts in particular that would be locally acceptable and help to
increase nutrition while lowering the environmental impacts of crop
production. This includes incorporating more drought-tolerant cereals
-- such as maize, sorghum and millet -- and increasing the share of
whole grains.

Wei said that unlike cereals such as rice and wheat -- which are widely consumed but offer fewer nutritional benefits -- other drought-tolerant
cereals use water more efficiently, release less greenhouse gases during
their production, and are able to maintain their nutrient content in the
face of elevated CO2 in the atmosphere. These drought-tolerant cereals
used to be much more widely consumed.

There is also widespread consumption of refined grains, such as bleached
flour, which is derived from cereals but is devoid of much of the original nutrients contained in the crop. "Promoting increased whole grains in the
diet while reducing refined flours and other processed items such as white bread can have important benefits for nutrition and health," said Davis.



==========================================================================
To conduct the study, Wei and Davis looked at historical data from 1961
through 2011 from the Global Expanded Nutrient Supply database, which
contains information on 225 food commodities. The data were available
for 152 countries, which account for 96% of the world population.

They looked at dietary scenarios at the country level to take into
account each nation's historical and current dietary patterns to better understand what dietary shifts would be locally acceptable and feasible.

They found that shifting diets to include more drought-tolerant grains
and more whole grains would lead to substantial increases in dietary
nutrients while at the same time helping to lower the environmental
footprint of crop production.

For instance, demand for freshwater resources used to irrigate crops
could be reduced globally by up to 11%, and water-scarce countries such
as Yemen could reduce their water demand by up to 60%.

Because all of the crops considered in the study have been and still are cultivated and consumed within each country, there is the possibility
to identify locally acceptable dietary shifts that can lead to multiple environmental and human health benefits.

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_Delaware. Original
written by Adam Thomas.

Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Dongyang Wei, Kyle Frankel Davis. Culturally appropriate shifts
in staple
grain consumption can improve multiple sustainability outcomes.

Environmental Research Letters, 2021; 16 (12): 125006 DOI:
10.1088/1748- 9326/ac32fc ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/02/220201143953.htm

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