Climate Change Now Impacting Our Food!

Do your know?

Where do you get your nutrients from?

Green and leafy vegetables, most of you would say. It may also remind some of Popeye, the sailor man who ate spinach and became superhuman. After all, spinach contains good content of vital iron. But what if I told you that the same spinach would not be as nutritious anymore? To get the same amount of iron, you will have to eat way more spinach than before. Nobody save for Popeye likes spinach that much. Though this is not just about spinach, most of the vegetables are losing their nutritional value. It might be a reality in the coming decades.

Climate change has one more weapon up its sleeves - this one reduces the nutritional value of our diets. To understand how this is happening, let’s look at the bottom, literally.

Recent research found out that climate change is causing lesser nutritional content in marine animals. How?

You know by now that climate change brings extreme weather events with it. Agreed? The cloudier and wetter weather has been replaced with more extended periods of sunshine and droughts. Such changes result in the decrease of nutrient supply like iron, etc. to the surface waters. This causes a prolonged suboptimal feeding of zooplanktons when their metabolic demands are at peak.

Result - Tiny less nutritious plants in oceans are replacing these large nutritious plants. Now, you know enough about food webs to visualise how this nutrient deficiency climbs to our plates through fishes and other animals.

But if it is difficult for you to link your plate with seaweed, then there is another study for you.

As per the study, the excess atmospheric CO2 also amplifies the dearth of iron, zinc, proteins and critical vitamins in wheat, rice and several legumes.

Most of us know the deficiency of minerals such as zinc decreases our immunity exposing us to various health risks. Similarly, other nutrients have an essential role in a healthy body. All of us have a reason to worry since we are talking about the entire food chain - all of our species are threatened.

Brace up for some numbers more significant than the Covid figures. As per estimates, nearly 2% of the global population, i.e. an extra 175 million people could remain zinc-deficient, and 122 million would not have sufficient protein intake. The iron intake shall reduce by over 4% in over 1.4 billion women and children younger than age 5. Not only this, but around half a billion of this group also have a risk of developing the iron-deficiency-related disease.

While we talk in relative terms today, we still haven’t talked about the absolute food insecurity given the increased frequencies of droughts and floods. And we don’t want to get there (at least not today).

Now let initiate actions to reduce impact of Climate Change.

If you have any inputs please share.

Dr. Yogesh D. Sonawane.