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Press Release: Dietary diversity the best approach to diet-related diseases

31 August 2010   |   Permalink

 

A new food-based approach to hunger and malnutrition is needed to cope with the epidemic of diet-related diseases around the world, warned Dr Emile Frison, Director General of Bioversity International, speaking at the Crawford Fund’s 2010 international conference. The conference “Biodiversity and World Food Security: Nourishing the Planet and its People,” is being held in Canberra today and tomorrow.

“Many studies have now shown clearly that a more diverse diet is associated with longer life and lower incidence of specific diseases such as heart disease and type 2 diabetes” Frison said.

Indeed when the WHO and others first started to discuss micronutrient deficiencies, they favoured a food-systems approach based on dietary diversity. Over time, however, the medical establishment “captured” the problem with a simplistic solution to over-simplified diets.

“We must return to a food-based approach to malnutrition” Frison urged. “Not only is it more sustainable, it also has many other benefits, such as treating multiple deficiencies, protecting the environment, improving incomes and promoting the welfare of whole communities.”

The full press release is available here:
Dietary diversity the best approach to diet related diseases



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Genebanks 1 comment

Very important point. Interesting that Dr Frison also mentioned the importance of genebanks (http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/08/31/2998541.htm?section=business) in the same speech. Very timely in view of what's happening at Pavlovsk.

Posted By: Luigi on Sep 01, 2010 09:26AM Reply | View Replies [1] | Report Abuse

Thanks for your comment and link. Genebanks, including the one threatened by development at the Pavlovsk Experiment Station, are indeed also crucially important, not least for nutrition. Bioversity scientists are working with colleagues at Pavlovsk and Luxembourg to assess the nutritional value of samples from Pavlovks. Stay tuned.

Posted By: Jeremy Cherfas on Sep 01, 2010 04:01PM Reply | Report Abuse

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