Dietary diversity through biodiversity in food systems - Bruce Cogill, Programme Leader, Diet Diversity for Nutrition and Health, Bioversity International. This presentation is based on one delivered at the Sackler Institute of Nutrition Science Conference, Academy of Sciences, New York on 26 March 2014. Read more about Bioversity International's work on Diet Diversity for Nutrition and Health - http://www.bioversityinternational.org/research-portfolio/diet-diversity/ Visit the official conference website here: http://www.nyas.org/Events/Detail.aspx?cid=0bd1adec-c31f-42aa-a09c-3de8d8abd93a

1. Dietary diversity through biodiversity in food systems
Bruce Cogill, Ph.D. Bioversity International
March 26th, 2014

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What is biodiversity?
‘The variability among living organisms from all sources
including terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems
and the ecological complexes of which they are part
including diversity within species, between species and of
ecosystems’ (UNEP 1995)
Species interact at the physical and chemical level to make up ecosystems –
forests, wetlands, etc. We speak of food systems, dietary patterns, diets, food
groups, foods, nutrients etc.

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Contributes to ecosystems and forests
Reduces pests and disease issues
Builds markets and livelihoods
Builds resilience to climate change
Why biodiversity matters

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Ecosystem services
Ecosystem services (also called environmental services or
nature’s services) are benefits provided by ecosystems to
humans, that contribute to making human life both
possible and worth living
Traditional ecosystem services include:
o crop pollination
o pest and disease control
o nutrient dispersal and cycling
o seed dispersal
o crop pollination
o carbon sequestration and climate regulation
o waste decomposition and detoxification

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Biodiversity contribution to supporting
ecosystem services
Source: Scholes presentation (2010)
o Food and nutrition security is
the product of many variables
o Ecosystems provide food,
through landscapes and other
supporting, regulating and
provisioning services
o The role of Econutrition:
biodiversity + ecosystem
services

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Diet variety loss
o The world has over 50, 000 edible plants. Just
three of them, rice, maize and wheat, provide
60 percent of the world's plant-derived food
energy supply
o Of these 50,000, only a few hundred contribute
significantly to food supplies
o Although there are over 10,000 species in the
Gramineae family, few have been widely
introduced into cultivation over the past 2 000
years
o Cereals are high in carbohydrates so they do
provide energy, have low to moderate protein
but are low in micronutrients; often poor
quality and over processed.

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Yields, prices or nutrient outputs
Agricultural practices have been aimed at
increasing production while decreasing
costs -- Intensification
Recently, preserving the environment has
become a more prominent goal
In 2012, CGIAR invested around 30%
($US213m) on rice, maize and wheat
research program
and around 1% ($US7.4m) on Dryland
Cereals (sorghum, millets, barley, etc)
Maximizing food quality and safety of farming systems has not been a primary
objective of modern agriculture….

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Food systems, food environments and econutrition
Interrelationships among nutrition, human health, agriculture and food
production, environmental health , and economic production

9. Ecuador Sicily
UK Chad
9

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Comparison of national overweight prevalence
for females and males

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Why biodiversity and dietary diversity/nutrition?
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 (e.g. trees)
o Better examples of
biodiversity and modelling
risk at HH and ecosystem level
Bioversity International/ P.Bordoni

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Causality - biodiversity and nutrition
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)

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o Rely on anecdotal and individual studies lack the epidemiological
or ecological evidence to link biodiversity and health
o The needs for “holism” combined with the reductionist approach
is much needed
o ‘Whole of Diet’ approach rather than a ‘nutrient by nutrient’ or
‘single food approach’
o This relies heavily on better frameworks and tools drawing from
the systems research and complexity science
o More challenging to do and communicate but necessary if we are
to climb out of the reductionist hole…..
Causality - biodiversity and nutrition cont....

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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 (see Tree
cover and Dietary Diversity, Ickowitz et al. 2013)
o There was a recent study of Food Consumption Scores
and Conflict in Cote d’Ivoire

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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 Studies found no significant association between
total dietary diversity and Type 2 Diabetes, colon
cancer, rectal cancer, and breast cancer
Dietary diversity – at the whole diet level
has been found to be associated with:
BioversityInternationalM.Tagliaferri

16. Individual choices
Nutrition
and
health outcomes
Nutrient interactions
Morbidity
Water &
Sanitation
….
Accessibility
Culture
16
Environment
& lifestyle

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Biodiversity
Good nutrition
and health
Cultural Identitiy Food taboos
Income
Knowledge
Barriers
Incentives
Value chains
Markets
Values
Morbidity
housing
Water and sanitation
Nutrient interactions
Anti-nutrients
Etc…
Policies
Can the consumer demand for nutritious and
healthy foods stimulate biodiversity conservation ?

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Supple-
ments
Nutrient
Dense/Therapeutic
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

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Bananas and beta-carotene
Cavendish Common Variety
<5 µg/100g pro-Vit A
carotenoid
<8500 µg/100g pro-Vit A carotenoid
South Pacific banana varieties
Source: Burlingame, FAO (2013) and Bioversity International

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Diversity in bananas:
Carotenoid content and in vitro bioaccessibility of East
African banana-based dishes
o Consumption of 200g (~ 2 fingers) of boiled EAHB and
AAB plantains would meet at least 14% and 30% of Vit A
Recommended Dietary Intakes of a child < 5years
o The Musa fruit has potential of making substantial
contribution to nutrition
Ekesa et al. (2012). Bioaccessibility of provitamin A carotenoids in bananas
(Musa spp.) and derived dishes in African countries. Food chemistry
133, 1471-1477.
o Principal carotenoids in both raw and processed Musa
fruit are trans beta carotene (t-BC), trans α-carotene (t-
AC)
o Pro Vitamin A Carotenoids in the boiled AAB-plantains
and AAA-EAHB cultivars ranged from 357.6 to 2570.1 µg
per 100 gram of fresh matter
o In vitro bioacessibility of beta carotene in boiled AAA-
EAHB and AAB plantains was 28.9% and 16.61%
respectively

21. Quinoa
(Chenopodium
quinoa Willd)
Quinoa was an almost
forgotten, ancient
nutritious grain from the
Andes
Became quite popular in
Western markets over the
past 10 years
But only very few of the
3000 existing varieties
made it into (international)
commercial circuits
Quinoa,
raw
Rice,
white, long
grain, raw
Corn,
sweet,
yellow, raw
Wheat,
hard red
winter, raw
energy (kcal) 368 365 86 327
protein 14,12 7,13 3,27 12,61
total lipid 6,07 0,66 1,35 1,54
carbohydrate 64,16 79,95 18,7 71,81
Essential Amino acids
tryptophan 0,167 0,083 0,023 0,160
threonine 0,421 0,255 0,129 0,365
isoluecine 0,504 0,308 0,129 0,458
leucine 0,840 0,589 0,384 0,854
lysine 0,766 0,258 0,137 0,335
methionine 0,309 0,168 0,067 0,201
phenylalanine 0,593 0,381 0,150 0,592
valine 0,594 0,435 0,185 0,556
arginine 1,091 0,594 0,131 0,595
histidine 0,407 0,168 0,089 0,285
protein factor 4,000 3,820 2,440 3,590
Source: USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference Release 26
Quinoa – a case of moving from niche to commodity

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Fork to Farm: A New Environmental and Agriculture
Paradigm

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Whole of Diet approach
o Triple burden of malnutrition =>
Whole of Diet approach
o Populations need a diverse diet
composed of cereals, tubers,
roots, legumes, fruits, vegetables,
nuts, animal source foods incl
insects to fully meet the multiple
requirements in macro and micro
nutrients for good nutrition and a
healthy life
o Cultural identity & biocultural
heritage
o Read DL Katz andS Meller “Can
we say what diet is best for
health?” Annual Review of Public
Health 2014. 35:83-103
Ecosystems
Species
Genetics
Proteins
Vitamins
Minerals
Carbohydrates
Lipids
Anti-nutrients
Anti-oxidants
Pharmacologically
active substances

24. o We need to climb out of the reductionist hole
o A Whole of Diet Approach -- Foods are more than just the sum of
nutrients, agricultural systems more than the sum of crops => whole of diet /
landscape approaches are needed
o Bioversity International and the CGIAR is working towards optimizing the use
of the available biodiversity to provide quality diets, decent incomes and
sustainable production systems while conserving biodiversity for future
generations
o We need better tools, such as linear programming, to identify nutrient
gaps, and optimize the choices of foods across the seasons to close gaps
Concluding observations I
M.Tagliaferri Bioversity International

25. o Local populations often harbour a wealth of knowledge on biodiversity
which in combination with good science can be leveraged to obtain
alleviate poverty and conserve precious resources
o Strong 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. This is
due to the lack of standard measures, data and the challenges of
modellng 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
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 II

26. www.bioversityinternational.org
Bruce Cogill, Ph.D