Presentation given at a symposium for Nutrition sensitive forest policy and landscape management, during the 51st Annual Meeting of the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation 2014, 20-24 July 2014, Cairns Australia www.bioversityinternatonal.org

1. Biodiversity and nutrition
Bruce Cogill, Ph.D.
21 July 2014
SYMPOSIUM: Nutrition-sensitive forest policy and landscape management
Bioversity International/R.

2. 2
Dietary Guidelines tell us something
• Diversity is key now
sustainability
• WHO (2003) ≥ 400 grams of
fruits and vegetables per day
• Other examples
• Brazil Food Guide
• Health Council Netherlands
• Swedish National Food
Council
• Nordic Council
• Australia guidelines

3. 3
Supple-
ments
Nutrient
Dense/Therapeuti
c
Fortification Staple
Foods Oils
Biofortification of Staple
Foods
Food, diet diversity and quality
based solutions
Treating and preventing under and
overnutrition –
from pills to improved diet and livelihoods
September 2013
Nutrition Marketing Diversity Programme, Bioversity International

4. 4
Diet variety loss
o The world has over 50, 000 edible
plants. Just 3 of them, rice, maize
and wheat, provide over 50 percent
of the world's plant-derived food
energy supply
o 12 crops and 5 animal species
contribute to 75% of the world’s
energy supply
o Cereals are high in carbohydrates so
they do provide energy, have low to
moderate protein but are low in
micronutrients; often poor quality

5. 5
Causality - bidirectional
Biodiversity –> diet diversity –>
diet quality nutrition/health
o Challenges in understanding the linkages,
pathways and potential hypotheses we face to
understand the role of biodiversity in human
nutrition and health (Hough 2014)
o Reductionist approach to nutrition with focus on
single nutrients and foods (Hoffman 2003 and
Burlingame 2004)

6. 6
Some of the Challenges to Understanding
the Relationships and Action
o Complex
o Lack of clear definition of what is
meant by biodiversity
o Modelling is challenging with
complex pathways and limited or
different levels of data
o Lots of studies associating
environmental change and dietary
diversity
o Better examples of biodiversity and
modelling risk at household and
ecosystem level Bioversity International/ P.Bordoni

7. Individual
choices
Nutrition
and
health
outcomes
Nutrient
interactions
Morbidity
Water &
Sanitation
….
Accessibility
Culture
7
Environme
nt &
lifestyle

8. 8
Diversity = nutritional
adequacy
o Dietary guidelines (WHO, national (Nordic, Brazil),
corporate (Barilla), academic and NGO (Livewell
Plate, WWF)
o Dietary diversity measure is a proxy for
micronutrient intake and diet quality (Arimond and
Ruel 2004; Kennedy et al. 2007; Rah et al. 2010;
Savy et al. 2008, etc.)
o Epidemiological studies link dietary diversity to
health nutrition outcomes (many studies)
o Biodiversity and dietary diversity less clear
o Different sources of evidence

9. 9
o Protect against Micronutrient Deficiencies and Promotes
Child Nutrition and Growth
o Beneficial effects in protecting against chronic disease and
mortality
o Inversely associated with:
• all-cause mortality
• cardiovascular disease risk factors
• hypertension
• colon cancer
• rectal cancer
• bladder cancer
• gastric cancer
• oral and pharyngeal cancer, and squamous cell cancer of
the esophagus
o Some studies found no significant association between total
dietary diversity and Type 2 Diabetes, colon cancer, rectal
cancer, and breast cancer
Dietary diversity
BioversityInternationalM.Tagliaferri

10. 10
METHODS: Measuring
Intake and Dietary Diversity
• 24 hr recall is GOLD Standard and
is used for Surveillance, Epi,
Research with mixed results
• 24 hr recall characterizes
population or group intake NOT
Individual Intake
• One 24 hr recall does NOT
indicate usual or habitual Intake of
an individual or a group -- need
multple days also FF and DD
measures

11. o Evidence of the importance of dietary diversity and
dietary quality with links to both over and
undernutrition and some diet related NCDs
o Less evidence of links between biodiversity and dietary
diversity. Due to the lack of standard measures, data
and the challenges of modeling complex
systems. There are plenty of anecdotes and case
studies but attribution remains a challenge
o Given public, private sector and even some policy
interest in the importance of diversity, especially given
diet transition and rising diet related non
communicable diseases, there is a strong need to:
a) generate better evidence
b) develop and get agreement around
measurement of biodiversity, diet diversity and
intake
c) look for opportunities to monitor policies and
programmes that link biodiversity and nutrition,
and
d) engage with teaching and other aspects to
improve training and capacity
Concluding
observations

12. 51st Annual Meeting of the
Association for Tropical Biology and
Conservation 2014, 20-24 July 2014,
Cairns Australia
SYMPOSIUM: Nutrition-sensitive
forest policy and landscape
management
b.cogill@cgiar.org
For more info:
www.bioversityinternational.org