Snippets

WHO Europe outlines healthy and sustainable diets workstream Posted in: Diet, Food Systems, Health, Nutrition, Sustainability, Vegetable Food Sources Read the document The World Health Organization (WHO) European Office for the Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases have released a fact sheet on their workstreams around healthy and sustainable diets. This work is intended to guide European national policy on shifts towards more sustainable diets. Many public health authorities and governments use WHO recommendations… read more...
Feed Our Future event to bring science, government and industry together Posted in: Affordability, Animal Food Sources, Cost, Diet, Energy Consumption, Food Sourcers, Food Systems, Livestock, Nutrition, Production, Sustainability, Vegetable Food Sources, Waste The Riddet Institute is this week hosting an event to bring together food system stakeholders and decision makers for accessible evidence-based discussion of the key global issues and the local decisions that we need to make. Sustainably feeding a growing population is a global problem, but also one for New Zealand to consider. Where does… read more...
Dairy in a low-cholesterol diet Posted in: Animal Food Sources, Diet, Health, Mortality, Nutrition Read the article A recent study on dairy’s role in cardiometabolic health has added further nuance to the topic by indicating the different outcomes total dairy and individual dairy products have on biomarkers of disease. Cardiometabolic diseases including cardiovascular disease, diabetes and chronic renal failure are now the number one cause of death in our… read more...
Increasing the nutritional and environmental benefits of crops Posted in: Food Systems, Nutrition, Production, Sustainability, Vegetable Food Sources Read the article An integrated technique has been used to find the multiple benefits of introducing legumes to crop rotations in a recent Frontiers study. Not only are these promising findings for developing sustainable food systems, but also a step forward in holistic life cycle analysis measurement. Adding legumes (beans, peas, lentils) to crop rotations… read more...
Climate change impacting our productivity gains Posted in: Food Systems, Production, Sustainability Read the article Global efficiency in agricultural productivity has been known to increase over time, but a recent paper published in Nature Climate Change has illustrated the significant gains we have lost due to climate change. Productivity growth can be understood as increasing the output of crops and livestock when using the same inputs. As… read more...
Finding harmony between plant-based and meat-eater diets Posted in: Animal Food Sources, Diet, Vegetable Food Sources A recent survey commissioned by Finnish plant-based brand “Beanit” was carried out to explore the dispute on various diets, and the barriers this creates in behaviour change. It highlights the contrasting opinions of consumers, with vegetarians and meat-eaters alike feeling judged on their food choices. Key findings of the study were that 64% of the… read more...
DELTA Model version 1.3 launched Posted in: Animal Food Sources, Food Systems, Nutrition, Production, Sustainability, Vegetable Food Sources The coloured bar shows the global average availability of each nutrient. The error bars show the range in availability in different parts of the world (10th and 90th population percentiles based on country level averages). While there are only a couple of nutrients where global availability is below target, the level of variation results in… read more...
Could this be the end to ‘dairy-free’ or ‘creamy’ plant-based food in the EU? Posted in: Animal Food Sources, Diet, Nutrition, Sustainability, Vegetable Food Sources The Dairy Ban or ‘Amendment 171’, saw a narrow majority vote by the European Parliament in October 2020, preventing imitation of dairy products by non-dairy products. This result saw a rally of 21 campaign groups, climate activists such as Greta Thunberg, and large dairy-alternative food producers such as Oatly protest the amendment. A petition against… read more...
Bottom trawling dragging up more than just fish Posted in: Animal Food Sources, Food Systems, Production, Sustainability Read the article A recent paper in Nature includes evidence that bottom trawling releases more CO2 emissions from carbon stores in marine sediment than the entire aviation industry. Similar to how our soils store carbon, our oceans stock the largest amount of carbon on the planet. The paper suggests a framework to prioritise protection areas… read more...
Could regenerative agriculture offer a solution to a more sustainable food system? Posted in: Food Systems, Production, Sustainability Read the white paper Regenerative agriculture is a hot topic after suggestions it offers a partial remedy to climate change. However, for a concept surrounded with such high expectation, there is very little clarity around the definition of regenerative agriculture or it’s evidence-based benefits. The National Science Challenge, Our Land and Water New Zealand have… read more...