Dietary Intakes of Traditional Foods for Dene/Métis in the Dehcho and Sahtú Regions of the Northwest Territories

A dietary transition away from traditional foods and toward a diet of the predominantly unhealthy market is a public health and sociocultural concern throughout Indigenous communities in Canada, including those in the sub-Arctic and remote regions of Dehcho and Sahtú of the Northwest Territories, Canada. The main aim of the present study is to describe dietary intakes for macronutrients and micronutrients in traditional and market food from the Mackenzie Valley study. We also show the trends of contributions and differences of dietary intakes over time from 1994 data collected and reported by the Centre for Indigenous People’s Nutrition and Environment (CINE) in 1996. Based on 24-h dietary recall data, the study uses descriptive statistics to describe the observed dietary intake of the Dene First Nations communities in the Dehcho and Sahtú regions of the NWT. Indigenous people in Canada, like the sub-Arctic regions of Dehcho and Sahtú of the NWT, continue to consume traditional foods, although as a small percentage of their total dietary intake. The observed dietary intake calls for action to ensure that traditional food remains a staple as it is critical for the wellbeing of Dene in the Dehcho and Sahtú regions and across the territory.

Bitter taste perception in BaYaka hunter-gatherers

Aversion towards bitter tastes evolved across vertebrate species to enable the recognition of harmful plant toxins. Genetic background, mode of subsistence, and dietary factors may explain variation in bitter taste sensitivity between human ecologies. We are the first to examine bitter taste perception within a population at different levels of market-integration, conducting an experiment using phenylthiocarbamide (PTC) and thiourea (Thiourea) infused paper strips amongst the Mbendjele BaYaka hunter-gatherers from Congo. We investigated (i.) prevalence of bitter tasting phenotypes amongst the BaYaka; (ii.) differences between BaYaka who grew up in town and forest camps. We found that 45.1% of BaYaka experience PTC as bitter, and 42.5% experience Thiourea as bitter. There were no sex differences, however bitter tasting phenotypes were significantly more prevalent in town than in forest camps (PTC:64.1%vs35.1%; Thiourea:64.1%vs31.1%). Despite a shared genetic background, we found that BaYaka who grew up in town were more sensitive to bitter taste than those living in the forest, suggesting a developmental component in taste perception. We suggest that the dietary transition from wild to cultivated foods in BaYaka living in town and a decreased use of traditional plant medicine may underlie this variation in bitter taste perception.

Impacts of supply-side climate change mitigation practices and trade policy regimes under dietary transition: the case of European agriculture

The EU’s Green Deal proposal and Farm to Fork strategy explicitly call for both demand and supply measures to reduce food system emissions. While research clearly illustrates the importance of dietary transitions, impacts of potential supply-side measures are not well understood in relation to competitiveness concerns and leakage effects. This study assesses trade and GHG emission impacts of two supply-side mitigation strategies in the EU (plus UK and Switzerland), against a 2050 baseline featuring healthy/sustainable diets adopted by European consumers. To capture potential leakage effects arising from changing external trade flows, two supply-side strategies (intensification and extensification) are assessed against three trade policy regimes, resulting in six scenarios formulated with detailed inputs from the EUCalc model and simulated with a purported-designed CGE model. Our results show that intensification, while improving the EU+2’s external trade balance, does not reduce its emissions, compared to the baseline. In contrast, extensification leads to a substantial emission abatement that augments reductions from the assumed dietary transition embodied in the baseline, resulting in a combined 31.1% of agricultural emission reduction in EU+2 during 2014-2050. However, this is at the expense of worsening agrifood trade balance amounting to US$25 billion, and significant carbon leakages at 48%, implying that half of the EU+2’s emission reduction are cancelled out by rising emissions elsewhere. Furthermore, implementing the EU+2’s prospective regional trade agreements leads to increased EU emissions; however, a border carbon adjustment by the EU+2 can improve its trade balance and partially shifting mitigation burdens to other countries, but ultimately only marginally reduce global emissions (and carbon leakage). Finally, different trade and emission effects are identified between the crop and livestock sectors, pointing to the desirability of a mixed agriculture system with intensified livestock sector and extensified crop agriculture in EU+2 that balances emission reduction goals and competitiveness concerns.

The role of the gut microbiota in the dietary niche expansion of fishing bats

Background Due to its central role in animal nutrition, the gut microbiota is likely a relevant factor shaping dietary niche shifts. We analysed both the impact and contribution of the gut microbiota to the dietary niche expansion of the only four bat species that have incorporated fish into their primarily arthropodophage diet. Results We first compared the taxonomic and functional features of the gut microbiota of the four piscivorous bats to that of 11 strictly arthropodophagous species using 16S rRNA targeted amplicon sequencing. Second, we increased the resolution of our analyses for one of the piscivorous bat species, namely Myotis capaccinii, and analysed multiple populations combining targeted approaches with shotgun sequencing. To better understand the origin of gut microorganisms, we also analysed the gut microbiota of their fish prey (Gambusia holbrooki). Our analyses showed that piscivorous bats carry a characteristic gut microbiota that differs from that of their strict arthropodophagous counterparts, in which the most relevant bacteria have been directly acquired from their fish prey. This characteristic microbiota exhibits enrichment of genes involved in vitamin biosynthesis, as well as complex carbohydrate and lipid metabolism, likely providing their hosts with an enhanced capacity to metabolise the glycosphingolipids and long-chain fatty acids that are particularly abundant in fish. Conclusions Our results depict the gut microbiota as a relevant element in facilitating the dietary transition from arthropodophagy to piscivory.

Food for All: Setting the Scene

Setting the scene, this chapter identifies key recent international agreements germane to the book’s subject matter—namely, Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Climate Accord—against which the role of structural transformation and the five key international organizations concerned with food and agriculture are reviewed. Transformation of food and agriculture is occurring in the face of growing trade uncertainties, demographic transition, rapid urbanization, dietary transition, and growing horizontal (cross-sectoral) and vertical (from farm-to-fork) integration. Meanwhile, conflict has caused the largest displacement of humans since the Second World War. Forced migration arising from humanitarian disasters is making unprecedented demands on food and financial assistance. Economists traditionally have viewed structural transformation from agriculture to manufacturing as pivotal for developing countries, but it has become increasingly difficult for lagging countries. Other transformations are also reshaping the global economy, including financial transformation (a shift from traditional North–South global savings and investment pattern to South–North), and energy transformation (shift from fossil fuels to renewables). Concurrently, the food and agricultural sectors are confronting new paradigms—such as environmentally sustainable food production and shifting focus in agriculture from individual energy (calorie) supply to nutritious, healthful foods, leading to a life-cycle approach to diets—which are influencing how the international development community views structural transformation and the role of agriculture. This chapter sets the stage for inquiries into food, transformations, international organizations and their interactions, and implications for a better outcome: nutritious food for all that is environmentally sustainable.

A Community-Based Approach to Integrating Socio, Cultural and Environmental Contexts in the Development of a Food Database for Indigenous and Rural Populations: The Case of the Batwa and Bakiga in South-Western Uganda

Comprehensive food lists and databases are a critical input for programs aiming to alleviate undernutrition. However, standard methods for developing them may produce databases that are irrelevant for marginalised groups where nutritional needs are highest. Our study provides a method for identifying critical contextual information required to build relevant food lists for Indigenous populations. For our study, we used mixed-methods study design with a community-based approach. Between July and October 2019, we interviewed 74 participants among Batwa and Bakiga communities in south-western Uganda. We conducted focus groups discussions (FGDs), individual dietary surveys and markets and shops assessment. Locally validated information on foods consumed among Indigenous populations can provide results that differ from foods listed in the national food composition tables; in fact, the construction of food lists is influenced by multiple factors such as food culture and meaning of food, environmental changes, dietary transition, and social context. Without using a community-based approach to understanding socio-environmental contexts, we would have missed 33 commonly consumed recipes and foods, and we would not have known the variety of ingredients’ quantity in each recipe, and traditional foraged foods. The food culture, food systems and nutrition of Indigenous and vulnerable communities are unique, and need to be considered when developing food lists.

Resilience of Faecal Microbiota in Stabled Thoroughbred Horses Following Abrupt Dietary Transition between Freshly Cut Pasture and Three Forage-Based Diets

The management of competition horses in New Zealand often involves rotations of short periods of stall confinement and concentrate feeding, with periods of time at pasture. Under these systems, horses may undergo abrupt dietary changes, with the incorporation of grains or concentrate feeds to the diet to meet performance needs, or sudden changes in the type of forage fed in response to a lack of fresh or conserved forage. Abrupt changes in dietary management are a risk factor for gastrointestinal (GI) disturbances, potentially due to the negative effects observed on the population of GI microbiota. In the present study, the faecal microbiota of horses was investigated to determine how quickly the bacterial communities; (1) responded to dietary change, and (2) stabilised following abrupt dietary transition. Six Thoroughbred mares were stabled for six weeks, consuming freshly cut pasture (weeks 1, 3 and 5), before being abruptly transitioned to conserved forage-based diets, both offered ad libitum. Intestinal markers were administered to measure digesta transit time immediately before each diet change. The conserved forage-based diets were fed according to a 3 × 3 Latin square design (weeks 2, 4 and 6), and comprised a chopped ensiled forage fed exclusively (Diet FE) or with whole oats (Diet FE + O), and perennial ryegrass hay fed with whole oats (Diet H + O). Faecal samples were collected at regular intervals from each horse following the diet changes. High throughput 16S rRNA gene sequencing was used to evaluate the faecal microbiota. There were significant differences in alpha diversity across diets (p < 0.001), and a significant effect of diet on the beta diversity (ANOSIM, p = 0.001), with clustering of samples observed by diet group. There were differences in the bacterial phyla across diets (p < 0.003), with the highest relative abundances observed for Firmicutes (62–64%) in the two diets containing chopped ensiled forage, Bacteroidetes (32–38%) in the pasture diets, and Spirochaetes (17%) in the diet containing hay. Major changes in relative abundances of faecal bacteria appeared to correspond with the cumulative percentage of intestinal markers retrieved in the faeces as the increasing amounts of digesta from each new diet transited the animals. A stable faecal microbiota profile was observed in the samples from 96 h after abrupt transition to the treatment diets containing ensiled chopped forage. The present study confirmed that the diversity and community structure of the faecal bacteria in horses is diet-specific and resilient following dietary transition and emphasised the need to have modern horse feeding management that reflects the ecological niche, particularly by incorporating large proportions of forage into equine diets.

Association between food intake and obesity in pregnant women living with and without HIV in Cape Town, South Africa: a prospective cohort study

Background Although global nutrition/dietary transition resulting from industrialisation and urbanisation has been identified as a major contributor to widespread trends of obesity, there is limited data in pregnant women, including those living with HIV in South Africa. We examined food-based dietary intake in pregnant women with and without HIV at first antenatal care (ANC) visit, and associations with maternal overweight/obesity and gestational weight gain (GWG). Methods In an urban South African community, consecutive women living with (n = 479) and without (n = 510) HIV were enrolled and prospectively followed to delivery. Interviewer-administered non-quantitative food frequency questionnaire was used to assess dietary intake (starch, protein, dairy, fruits, vegetables, legumes, oils/fats) at enrolment. Associations with maternal body mass index (BMI) and GWG were examined using logistic regression models. Results Among women (median age 29 years, IQR 25–34), the prevalence of obesity (BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2) at first ANC was 43% and that of excessive GWG (per IOM guidelines) was 37% overall; HIV prevalence was 48%. In women without HIV, consumption of potato (any preparation) (aOR 1.98, 95% CI 1.02–3.84) and pumpkin/butternut (aOR 2.13, 95% CI 1.29–3.49) for 1–3 days a week increased the odds of overweight/obesity compared to not consuming any; milk in tea/coffee (aOR 6.04, 95% CI 1.37–26.50) increased the odds of excessive GWG. Consumption of eggs (any) (aOR 0.52, 95% CI 0.32–0.86) for 1–3 days a week reduced the odds of overweight/obesity while peanut and nuts consumption for 4–7 days a week reduced the odds (aOR 0.34, 95% CI 0.14–0.80) of excessive GWG. In women with HIV, consumption of milk/yoghurt/maas to drink/on cereals (aOR 0.35, 95% CI 0.18–0.68), tomato (raw/cooked) (aOR 0.50, 95% CI 0.30–0.84), green beans (aOR 0.41, 95% CI 0.20–0.86), mixed vegetables (aOR 0.49, 95% CI 0.29–0.84) and legumes e.g. baked beans, lentils (aOR 0.50, 95% CI 0.28–0.86) for 4–7 days a week reduced the odds of overweight/obesity; tomato (raw/cooked) (aOR 0.48, 95% CI 0.24–0.96) and mixed vegetables (aOR 0.38, 95% CI 0.18–0.78) also reduced the odds of excessive GWG. Conclusions Diet modification may promote healthy weight in pregnant women living with and without HIV.