Sustainable healthy diets | TableDebates

Image: USDA, 20130920-OC-LSC-0594, Flickr, Public Domain

A key debate: the impact on diets and greenhouse gas emissions of eliminating animals from US agriculture

Three letters have been published in a recent edition of PNAS criticising the assumptions and conclusions drawn by a 2017 paper which sought to quantify the greenhouse gas (GHG) and nutritional implications of completely eliminating animals from US agriculture. A rebuttal letter by the authors of the original 2017 paper appears alongside the three letters in the journal.

Image: Billy Hathorn, USDA Bldg., Washington, D.C. IMG 4787, Wikimedia Commons, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported

Corn syrup lobbyist is helping set USDA dietary guidelines

A former lobbyist for the Snack Food Association and the Corn Refiners Association (whose members make high-fructose corn syrup) has been granted a waiver of conflict of interest rules, enabling her to advise the US Department of Agriculture on dietary guidelines.

Image: Aaron Leavy, Grass, Flickr, Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic

Grass is greener for healthy, novel protein, say researchers

Grass could be the next source of human-edible protein.

BBC World Service - The Why Factor - Vegans

The FCRN’s founder Dr Tara Garnett was interviewed on the BBC Worldservice’s Why Factor programme, for their episode which discussed veganism.

Photo: 20130712-AMS-LSC-0396, US Department of Agriculture, Flickr, Public Domain Mark 1.0

A model for ‘sustainable’ US beef production

This study by researchers in the US used a theoretical approach to work out how much beef could be produced in the US if the cows were raised solely on pasturelands and by-products, and what the environmental and nutritional ramifications of repurposing the freed up cropland would be.

Foodsource

How are food systems, diets, and health connected?

Today, billions are malnourished: not eating a diet containing energy and nutrients in healthy amounts. Both lack of food and excess of consumption cause huge levels of disease worldwide. To a significant extent, the food systems in which people participate determine what people can and do eat (i.e. their diets); and as a consequence, their health. Food systems are, therefore, central to solving many of the world’s biggest health challenges. But the way in which they affect health in different regions and among different groups of people is complex, and varies greatly. An understanding of these interconnections and their effects is needed, in order for food systems to be changed in ways that promote human wellbeing.

Image: Cazz, Terraced rice paddies, Flickr, Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic

What’s on the table? Mitigating agricultural emissions while achieving food security

A Climate Action Tracker report outlines and quantifies the main opportunities to reduce food-related non-CO2 greenhouse gas emissions, particularly CH4 and N2O.

Towards a European food and nutrition policy

This report by researchers at Wageningen University considers current food policies and practices in the EU, as well as the potential for change in the future.

Overview on development in 2017 towards a sustainable protein system

This piece by the international NGO Futures Centre highlights the emergence of some innovative solutions that could help the transition to a sustainable protein consumption and production system.