Science Forum 2013 (www.scienceforum13.org) Breakout Session 3 - DIET DIVERSIFICATION

1. Nutrition and health sensitive landscapes
Céline Termote, PhD
23/09/2013

2. Nutrition: who?
Need to put the PEOPLE living in the
landscape central
Importance of local knowledge and
perceptions:
• varieties/breeds + forest/wild foods, NTFPs,
• landscape and forest management
Food systems in indigenous communities
are sometimes closely linked to cultural,
social or political systems
e.g. ‘Lilwa’ socio-cultural organisation of the
Mbole, Tshopo District, DRCongo; all
interventions in the Mbole society should be
based on an understanding of this socio-
cultural institution (Kalala Nkudi, 1979)

3. Nutrition: whole of diet approach
• Triple burden of malnutrition
=> Whole of Diet approach
• in addition to the important
staple crops, local populations
need a diverse diet composed
of cereals, tubers, roots,
legumes, fruits, vegetables,
nuts, meet/fish, insects, etc. to
fully fulfill the multiple
requirements in macro and
micro nutrients for good
nutrition and a healthy life.
Ecosystem
species
genetic
Proteins
Vitamins
Minerals
Carbohydrates
lipids
Anti-nutrients
Anti-oxidants
Pharmacologically
active substances

4. Nutrition: whole of diet approach
Bioversity is working towards the development of an APPROACH and tools:
• to document the availability and knowledge on local food biodiversity (crop diversity,
wild and NUS species included) on an individual, community and landscape level in different
agro-ecologial, socio-economic and cultural contexts from a food systems perspective
• to study food composition and actual and potential consumption of these foods;
• to assess seasonality, abundance, accessibility, affordability, cultural acceptability,
sufficiency and safety of these foods for rural as well as urban consumers;
• linear programming using local food composition data and food prices as an
innovative tool to screen local biodiversity with regard to its potential to optimize diet quality
and reduce cost of diet
• to identify determinants, barriers and opportunities with regard to healthy local food
consumption and dietary diversity
• to evaluate best practices and implementation strategies for promotion of improved
production, marketing and use of agricultural and wild biodiversity

5. Individual choices
Nutrition and
health
outcomes
Nutrient interactions
Morbidity
Water
&
sanitation
….
Accessibility
Culture

6. Role of wild, neglected and underutilized foods in
reducing the cost of a nutritionally adequate diet in the
eastern region of Baringo District, Kenya
Project in collaboration with Save the Children UK and
the Museums of Kenya
Objective: Documenting the role of wild and
underutilized foods in reducing the cost of a nutritionally
adequate diet for children aged 6 to 24 months and
women
Methodology:
• Ethnobotanical surveys to inventory wild and NUS species
• Market price assessments and seasonality
• Culturally acceptable average food consumption frequencies and portion sizes
• Selection of 5 wild NUS species for modeling in Cost of Diet analysis
• Cost of Diet lineair programming to assess the cost of a locally appropriate,
culturally acceptable, cost-optimized, nutritious diet in dry and wet season.
Analysis with and without wild NUS foods.
http://www.bioversityinternational.org/index.php?id=19&no_cache=1&user_bioversitypublications_pi1[showUid]=7177

7. Role of wild, neglected and underutilized foods in
reducing the cost of a nutritionally adequate diet in the
eastern region of Baringo District, Kenya
• Without wild foods:
•modeled (optimized) diets were deficient in Fe for all
age groups (women and children) during dry season
•for infants aged 6 to 8 months: Vit. B6 and Ca
deficient during dry season, Fe and Zn deficient the
whole year
• Including all 5 selected wild plant foods in the modeled
diet (at a supposed zero cost), could substantially lower
the cost of the diets (up to 64% for some age groups) and
contributed to meet FAO/WHO recommended nutrient
intakes
• Berchemia discolor had the highest impact on the cost
of the diet and on meeting recommended nutrient intakes
for Fe
• With or without wild foods, it was not possible to meet all
recommended nutrient intakes in all seasons for children
aged 6 to 12 months
Balanites aegyptiaca
Berchemia discolor
Ximenia americana
Ziziphus mauritiana
Solanum nigrum
http://www.bioversityinternational.org/index.php?id=19&no_cache=1&user_bioversitypublications_pi1[showUid]=7177

8. Nutrition along the value chain: Benin
Assessing the role of market participation on
species diversity grown, sold and consumed and its
implications for diets, food security and nutrition
among rural households
Investigating the current and potential role of local
biodiversity in meeting nutritional requirements for
complementary foods of infants and young children

9. 9
Biodiversity
Good nutrition
and health
Cultural Identitiy Food taboos
Income
Knowledge
Barriers
Incentives
Value chains
Markets
Values
Morbidity
housing
Water and sanitation
Nutrient interactions
Anti-nutrients
Etc…
Policies
Can the consumer demand for nutritious and healthy
foods stimulate biodiversity conservation ?

10. Sustainable Diets: Metrics and Policy
Need to improve quality and environmental
sustainability of the diet =>
Key determinants for a sustainable diet
Sustainable diets are those diets with low
environmental impacts which contribute to
food and nutrition security and to healthy life
for present and future generations.
Metrics: Sustainable Diet Score and Suite of
Indicators to reflect the multiple dimensions of a
healthy and sustainable diet.
Innovative strategies for accessible, safe, sustainable and resilient food systems which
ensure environmental integrity, economic self-reliance and social well-being need to be
developed and implemented

11. www.bioversityinternational.org
Thank you
Nutrition and Marketing Diversity Programme
Céline Termote; c.termote@cgiar.org