only accelerate global warming, and a global
shift to the US and north European diet would
require an extra billion hectares of grazing
land. recommended eight, five servings of fruit and
vegetables instead of 15, three servings of oil
and fat instead of one, and four servings of
sugar instead of the recommended none.
Researchers have repeatedly argued that to
feed a swelling human population and at the
same time limit global warming nations should
encourage a drastic shift to the kind of diet
almost universally recommended in national
and international health guidelines. Without a worldwide shift towards a much
healthier diet, farmers would have to colonise
another 12 million hectares of arable land and
at least another billion for pasture.
Professor Fraser and colleagues report in
the Public Library of Science journal PLOS
One that they looked at international output,
divided it by the numbers of humans expected
by 2050, and calculated the available servings
per citizen per day of each of three food
groups.
In the health guidelines, half of the plateful
should be fruit and vegetables; 25% should be
whole grains and the last quarter protein, fats
or oils, and dairy produce.
Lop-sided diet
But right now, the world’s farmers are
delivering 12 servings of grain instead of the
AgriKultuur |AgriCulture
Were habits to change, however, farmers
could deliver enough to feed a growing
population and at the same time return
perhaps 50 million hectares to the wild,
because fruit and vegetables can be grown in
smaller spaces than grain, sugar and oils.
“Feeding the next generation is one of
the most pressing challenges for the 21st
century,” said Professor Fraser. “For a growing
population, our calculations suggest that
the only way to eat a nutritionally balanced
diet, save land and reduce greenhouse gas
emissions is to consume and produce more
fruits and vegetables as well as transition to
diets higher in plant-based protein.”
Climate News Network
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