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Book (stand-alone)Contribution of terrestrial animal source food to healthy diets for improved nutrition and health outcomes
An evidence and policy overview on the state of knowledge and gaps
2023Also available in:
No results found.Diverse foods derived from livestock production systems, including grazing and pastoralist systems, and from the hunting of wild animals, provide high-quality proteins, important fatty acids and various vitamins and minerals – contributing to healthy diets for improved nutrition and health. Livestock species are adapted to a wide range of environments, including areas that are unsuitable for crop production. Globally, more than a billion people depend on livestock value chains for their livelihoods. Small-scale livestock farmers and pastoralists make up a large proportion of livestock producers. Well integrated livestock production increases the resilience of small-scale farming systems. Livestock also provide other important ecosystem services in landscape management, provide energy and help to improve soil fertility. Rangeland or grassland ecosystems occupy some 40 percent of the world’s terrestrial area. Livestock keepers raise grazing animals to transform grassland vegetation into food. Challenges related to high resource utilization and pollution, food–feed competition, greenhouse-gas emissions, antimicrobial resistance and animal welfare as well as zoonotic and food-borne diseases, accessibility and affordability need to be solved if agrifood systems are to become more sustainable. FAO’s Committee on Agriculture requested a comprehensive, science- and evidence-based global assessment of the contribution of livestock to food security, sustainable food systems, nutrition and healthy diets, considering environmental, economic and social sustainability. The assessment consists of four component documents. This first component document provides a holistic analysis of the contribution of terrestrial animal source food to healthy diets for improved nutrition and health outcomes over the course of people’s lives. -
ProjectImproving Diets and Nutrition Outcomes in Southern Africa - TCP/SFS/3604 2020
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No results found.It is widely acknowledged that having a high-quality diet is one of the single most important contributors to nutrition outcomes and health, while poor-quality diets result in malnutrition in its many forms, including under-nutrition, micronutrient deficiencies and obesity. In recent years, African countries have begun to undergo a dietary transition, marked by changes in food consumption patterns. Globalization, urbanization and changes in the food supply and lifestyles have resulted in a shift in dietary habits, a loss in dietary diversity and a loss of traditional food cultures. Shifts to sub-optimal diets are compounded by a lack of awareness of nutrition and a low level of empowerment to make healthy food choices. The general population has been exposed to mixed and misguided nutrition messages which, in turn, negatively influence their overall knowledge, outlook and behaviour towards making healthy food choices. These changes, coupled with the increased availability and marketing of products of low nutritional value, highlighted the need for consistent, simple and practical dietary guidance to enable people to make healthy food choices and therefore prevent negative health outcomes, and to assist countries in developing food, health and agriculture policy. The Sub-regional Office of Southern Africa (SFS) therefore implemented this project, TCP/SFS/3604, to support three countries (Seychelles, the United Republic of Tanzania, and Zambia) in promoting healthy diets through the development of Food-based Dietary Guidelines (FBDGs). This TCP also supported the Government of Lesotho in the development of a Nutrition and Home Economics Strategy (NHES) for the Department of Nutrition and Home Economics (DoNHE) in the Ministry of Agriculture. The FBDGs are evidence-based recommendations with a series of harmonized nutrition messages and related illustrations that represent what a healthy diet is. The guidelines also provide advice on foods, food groups and dietary patterns to help the population meet nutrition requirements, so as to promote overall health and prevent diet-related non-communicable diseases. The FBDGs are intended to establish a basis for policies on food and nutrition, public health, and agriculture, as well as nutrition education programmes, in order to foster healthy eating habits and lifestyles. -
Book (series)Africa regional overview of food security and nutrition 2020: Transforming food systems for affordable healthy diets 2021
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Africa is not on track to meet the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2 targets to end hunger and ensure access by all people to safe, nutritious, and sufficient food all year round and to end all forms of malnutrition. The number of hungry people on the continent has risen by 47.9 million since 2014 and now stands at 250.3 million, or nearly one-fifth of the population. The 2017, 2018 and 2019 editions of this report explain that this gradual deterioration of food security was due to conflict, weather extremes, and economic slowdowns and downturns, often overlapping. A continued worsening of food security is expected also for 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to hunger, across all countries in Africa millions of people suffer from widespread micronutrient deficiencies, and overweight and obesity are emerging as significant health concerns in many countries. This report shows that the food system in Africa does not provide food at a cost that makes nutritious food affordable to a majority of the population, and this is reflected in the high disease burden associated with maternal and child malnutrition, high body-mass, micronutrient deficiencies, and dietary risk factors. The report also shows that current food consumption patterns impose high health and environmental costs, which are not reflected in food prices. The findings presented in this report highlight the importance of prioritizing the transformation of food systems to ensure access to affordable and healthy diets for all, produced in a sustainable manner.
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