Food Words, Myths, Nutrition and Confusion

5.” Eating local“ important for human health and the environment?

These are good reasons to eat local if you’re in a place where farmers’ markets are accessible, affordable, and convenient.

• Tasting the best food around,
• Sustaining the businesses of local farmers,
• Supporting regional food systems,
• Preserving common land and its biodiversity, and
• Building a community that cares about food.

The myth around local foods

First Myth nutritional composition.

Whereas the soil can significantly impact a plant’s concentration of certain minerals (like selenium) and species genotype also matters, a crop is what it is. For example, all apples provide vitamin C, fibre, water, and a host of phytochemicals. But how it is picked stored, and transported all impact nutrient content more significantly than where it was grown.

The second myth is that local is more sustainable.

As with plants and other animals, seafood sustainability is primarily a function of production practices, not proximity to home how seafood is caught matters as some methods lead to substantial by-catch, thus contributing to food waste. For these reasons, wild-caught, nonlocal species may be the most sustainable choice, or perhaps farmed seafood, depending on how the fish are raised.

The third myth touts that eating local is the best dietary choice for the environment.

It is certainly true that local foods have fewer “food miles,” as they’ve travelled a shorter distance from farm to table than those traversing the country, or even globe. But that doesn’t necessarily mean local apple has a smaller carbon footprint than one imported. Economies of scale matter, as does the mode of transport. Millions of apples arriving by ship often have a smaller carbon footprint per unit than thousands travelling by truck. Moreover, food production contributes 83% of greenhouse gas emissions (GHGe) compared to just 11% for food transportation. Indeed, production impacts on climate are larger than all post– farm gate emissions (transport, retail, waste) for almost all foods and animal foods create the most GHGe by far.

Fourth myth asserts that local food is safer.

The life cycle chain from farm to fork is often shorter and more transparent within local systems, which can help to quickly identify sources of foodborne illness. Yet there is no conclusive data that local food is any safer, and smaller systems can lack the quality control and practices of larger counterparts. Local wares sitting at a farmers’ market in hot temperatures are also a breeding ground for bacteria if improperly stored and many purveyors favour raw milk and juices, which are substantially less safe than those pasteurized.

A final myth is that eating local is less expensive.

Great deals can abound at farmers’ markets, especially when buying in bulk. But prices for conventional produce are generally comparable to or higher than those in the average supermarket and local organic produce can be downright unreasonable.

While eating local will doubtless play a role in future food systems. It is not a panacea for today’s complex food and nutrition problems in a global food supply.

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6.Food genetically engineered? Good or Bad

Do you know someone with diabetes who needs insulin? Chances are it was synthesized using genetic engineering (GE), like many other life- saving medicines. Love cheese? Rennet is a collection of enzymes used in traditional cheesemaking produced by ruminants, usually calves but the majority is now synthesized animal-free using GE. Even so, many eaters oppose the use of GMOs  though they’ve been consuming foods made with them for years with no observed ill effects.

What is a genetically modified organism (GMO)

Plants or animals in which genes have been altered using molecular biology and recombinant DNA techniques rather than conventional breeding are colloquially referred to as genetically modified organisms (GMOs), or, alternatively, GE or “biotech” crops.GE allows direct and specific changes to a plant’s DNA, ribonucleic acid (RNA), or proteins to create, express, or repress a trait rather than achieve the same end through conventional cross-breeding. In “transgenic” species, which receive the most media and consumer attention, genes from a different species are inserted.

Adding a gene from the same species (cis genic) and modifying a gene within the same species (such as turning it on or off) are also examples of GE.

In 2017, 11 biotech foods were commercially available in the world: corn, soybeans, cotton, canola, alfalfa, and sugar beet (for insect and/ or herbicide resistance); papaya and squash (virus resistance); apple ( browning resistance); potato (blight resistance); and salmon (faster growth).

Benefits

In 2014 meta-analysis of 147 studies found that GE crops reduced chemical pesticide use by 37%, increased crop yields by 22%, and increased farmer profits by 68%.This lead to increased abundance of the food, lower costs and without any significant impact to the health of a person. Till date, no conclusive study has been able to ascertain any adverse effect on human health by the use of GMO.

In 2016, a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine report concluded, “While recognizing the inherent difficulty of detecting subtle or long- term effects in health or the environment, the study committee found no substantiated evidence of a difference in risks to human health between currently commercialized genetically engineered (GE) crops and conventionally bred crops, nor did it find the conclusive cause- and- effect evidence of environmental problems from the GE crops.”

7.Are “grass-fed” meat healthier and more sustainable than “grain-fed”?

There are nutritional differences between grass-finished and grain-fed cattle, an example of “you are what you eat eats. “The biggest difference is fat composition: direct feed is high in omega- 6 fatty acids like linoleic acid, whereas grass provides some plant-based omega- 3 fatty acids. As many diets are especially low in omega- 3 fatty acids, grass-fed beef makes a more considerable contribution to intake relative to grain-fed beef. Yet quantities are incomparable to the amounts in seafood. Grass-fed beef is also higher in CLA (i.e., conjugated linoleic acid) and has higher beta- carotene and alpha-tocopherol (precursors to vitamin A and vitamin E, respectively); other small micronutrient differences may occur due to nutrient variability in feed and soil.