More affordable aquatic foods could prevent 166 million micronutrient deficiencies worldwide

Some 166 million micronutrient deficiencies could be averted by 2030 if the global production of marine and freshwater foods is increased by 15.5 million tons (8%), new research has found.

The study published by Nature highlighted several ways in which aquatic foods improve human health, including reducing micronutrient deficiencies and offering alternatives to red and processed meat, which are often associated with non-communicable disease.

 Produced as one of five initial scientific papers for the Blue Food Assessment (BFA), the research, entitled “Aquatic foods to nourish nations,” found that an increase in the sustainable production of aquatic foods through investments in aquaculture and improved fisheries management would lead to a decrease in prices by 26%, making fish and seafood more affordable for low-income populations around the world.

“We live in a deeply malnourished world, with billions of people suffering from micronutrient deficiencies and diet-related chronic diseases,” said lead author Christopher Golden, assistant professor of nutrition and planetary health at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. “Finding ways to sustainably increase the production of blue foods offers an opportunity to increase access to safe, nutritious and healthy diets for the world’s most vulnerable.”

Aquatic foods offer the chance for developing countries to improve their diets without suffering the negative health risks associated with the meat-intensive diets of more affluent countries, the authors said.

“Aquatic foods can provide a potential pathway for nutritional equity,” said Zachary Koehn, early career fellow at the Center for Ocean Solutions, Stanford University. “Policymakers and development stakeholders should leverage the availability of culturally appropriate and sustainably produced aquatic foods to reduce food insecurity and tackle malnutrition.”

The findings are based on data from the Aquatic Foods Composition Database (AFCD), which was developed to increase understanding of the potential nutritional benefits of aquatic foods. It is now the most comprehensive global database of its kind, profiling 3,753 aquatic food species and hundreds of nutrients, with important implications for nutrition and fishery management policies across the world.

“For the first time, our study highlights the significant role of aquatic foods in meeting the dietary needs of nutritionally vulnerable populations, while also mitigating chronic diseases by weaning people away from red and processed meats,” Golden added.

Falsified VITAMIN A (retinol) identified in WHO region of Africa

The World Health organization (WHO0 has raised alarm requesting increased vigilance in African countries likely to be affected by falsified VITAMIN A (retinol) capsules identified in Chad and reported to WHO in November 2020.

The WHO noted that increased vigilance should include hospitals, clinics, health centres, wholesalers, distributors, pharmacies and any other suppliers of medical products.

“All medical products must be obtained from authorized/licensed suppliers. The products’ authenticity and physical condition should be carefully checked. Seek advice from a healthcare professional in case of doubt.”

Table 1: Products subject of WHO Medical Product Alert N°1/2021

This WHO Medical Product Alert referred to two falsified VITAMIN A (retinol) capsules identified in Chad and reported to WHO in November 2020.

Accordng to the WHO, laboratory analysis of recovered samples identified that both products are severely degraded and underdosed – containing less than the stated active ingredient. Both falsified products also carry now-defunct logos – the outdated WHO Essential Drugs Programme logo and the outdated Micronutrient Initiative logo. Both falsified products were supplied at patient level and may still be in circulation in the region.

Vitamin A (retinol) is a micronutrient used for the prevention and treatment of vitamin A deficiency. The most severe effects of this deficiency are seen in young children. Deficiency of vitamin A is associated with significant morbidity and mortality from common childhood infections and is the world’s leading preventable cause of childhood blindness. Vitamin A deficiency also contributes to maternal mortality and other poor outcomes of pregnancy and lactation. Retinol is listed on the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines for Children.

“The public health threat of falsified vitamin A (retinol) particularly affects vulnerable children already suffering from vitamin A deficiency. It is important to detect and remove any falsified vitamin A (retinol) from circulation so as to prevent harm to patients.”

According to the World Health Organization, sham drugs are the world’s most lucrative counterfeit goods, with a global market worth roughly $200bn, and Africa accounts for around 42% of the world’s cases.

NIH study finds heavily processed foods cause overeating and weight gain

People eating ultra-processed foods ate more calories and gained more weight than when they ate a minimally processed diet, according to results from a National Institutes of Health study.

Researchers from the National Institutes of Health Kevin D. Hall, Ph.D., center, and Stephanie Chung, M.B.B.S., right, talk with a study participant at the NIH Clinical Center.Jennifer Rymaruk, NIDDK

The difference occurred even though meals provided to the volunteers in both the ultra-processed and minimally processed diets had the same number of calories and macronutrients. The results were published in Cell Metabolism(link is external).

This small-scale study of 20 adult volunteers, conducted by researchers at the NIH’s National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), is the first randomized controlled trial examining the effects of ultra-processed foods as defined by the NOVA classification system. This system considers foods “ultra-processed” if they have ingredients predominantly found in industrial food manufacturing, such as hydrogenated oils, high-fructose corn syrup, flavoring agents, and emulsifiers.

Previous observational studies looking at large groups of people had shown associations between diets high in processed foods and health problems. But, because none of the past studies randomly assigned people to eat specific foods and then measured the results, scientists could not say for sure whether the processed foods were a problem on their own, or whether people eating them had health problems for other reasons, such as a lack of access to fresh foods.

“Though we examined a small group, results from this tightly controlled experiment showed a clear and consistent difference between the two diets,” said Kevin D. Hall, Ph.D., an NIDDK senior investigator and the study’s lead author. “This is the first study to demonstrate causality — that ultra-processed foods cause people to eat too many calories and gain weight.”

For the study, researchers admitted 20 healthy adult volunteers, 10 male and 10 female, to the NIH Clinical Center for one continuous month and, in random order for two weeks on each diet, provided them with meals made up of ultra-processed foods or meals of minimally processed foods. For example, an ultra-processed breakfast might consist of a bagel with cream cheese and turkey bacon, while the unprocessed breakfast was oatmeal with bananas, walnuts, and skim milk.

The ultra-processed and unprocessed meals had the same amounts of calories, sugars, fiber, fat, and carbohydrates, and participants could eat as much or as little as they wanted.

Dietitians at the Clinical Center of the National Institutes of Health designed recipes to test the effects of ultra-processed and unprocessed diets on study participants.Jennifer Rymaruk, NIDDK

“We need to figure out what specific aspect of the ultra-processed foods affected people’s eating behavior and led them to gain weight,” Hall said. “The next step is to design similar studies with a reformulated ultra-processed diet to see if the changes can make the diet effect on calorie intake and body weight disappear.”

For example, slight differences in protein levels between the ultra-processed and unprocessed diets in this study could potentially explain as much as half the difference in calorie intake.

“Over time, extra calories add up, and that extra weight can lead to serious health conditions,” said NIDDK Director Griffin P. Rodgers, M.D. “Research like this is an important part of understanding the role of nutrition in health and may also help people identify foods that are both nutritious and accessible — helping people stay healthy for the long term.”

While the study reinforces the benefits of unprocessed foods, researchers note that ultra-processed foods can be difficult to restrict. “We have to be mindful that it takes more time and more money to prepare less-processed foods,” Hall said. “Just telling people to eat healthier may not be effective for some people without improved access to healthy foods.”

Mondelēz International Takes Minority Investment in Uplift Food Start-Up

Mondelēz International announced it has taken a minority investment in Uplift Food, a US-based early-stage start-up focusing on prebiotic functional foods. This is the first venture investment the company is making as part of SnackFutures, the company’s innovation and venture hub aimed at unlocking snacking growth opportunities around the world.

A key pillar of the company’s consumer-centric growth strategy, SnackFutures is designed as an independent hub that brings three core tenets of growth under one umbrella to accelerate innovation: invention of new brands and businesses; reinvention of small-scale brands with large-scale potential, and venture investments with start-up entrepreneurs.

“As the global snacking leader, we’re on a clear mission to lead the future of snacking by providing the right snack, for the right moment, made the right way,” said Tim Cofer, Executive Vice President and Chief Growth Officer of Mondelēz International. “Together with Uplift Food, we have a unique opportunity to disrupt the functional food category by delivering ‘snackable’ products focusing on gut health – something that does not exist today.”

Functional snacking is a strategic area for SnackFutures as consumers are increasingly looking for their snacks to deliver benefits but options are currently limited. The SnackFutures team will work with Uplift Food to make gut health more understandable, accessible, and enjoyable through new forms and flavors. Beyond the financial investment, SnackFutures will also provide strategic support in areas like marketing, distribution, R&D and sourcing.

“Partnering with SnackFutures will undeniably strengthen Uplift Food’s capacity to live our mission of seeing everyone benefit from the consumption of gut healthy foods. The SnackFutures team provides the industry experience needed to make our dream a reality, and the continued support they show us to hold onto our nutritional and ingredient integrity allows us to remain true to our core values and grow,” said Kara Landau, Dietitian and Founder Uplift Food.

Supported by an unconventional ecosystem of best-in-class internal experts and external partners around the globe, SnackFutures seeks to collaborate in three key strategic areas: well-being snacks, premium snacks, digital platforms and capabilities. 

Reaching for objects while driving may raise teen crash risk nearly sevenfold

Teenagers who reach for objects, such as food or makeup, while driving increase their risk of crashing nearly seven times, according to researchers at the National Institutes of Health.

Their study, which appears in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine, also found that manually dialing, texting or browsing the web on a phone while driving doubled a teen’s crash risk.

Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death and disabilities among drivers aged 15 to 20 years, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration(link is external). The current study is the first to use real-time driving data to quantify the extent to which visual inattention — the amount of time a teen’s eyes shift from the road to various distractions — contributes to the risk of a crash.

Researchers followed 82 newly licensed teen drivers in Virginia over a one-year period, equipping their vehicles with cameras and GPS technology to track the driver’s activity and environment. After one year, 43 of the drivers did not experience a crash, while 25 had one crash and 14 had two or more crashes. Using six-second videos of driver behavior prior to a crash, researchers calculated that for every second that a teen’s eyes were off the road, the risk of a crash increased by 28 percent regardless of the type of distraction. Teens manually using a cell phone doubled their odds of crashing. Teens who were reaching for something while driving increased their risk nearly sevenfold, which researchers attributed to a combination of distractions, including taking their eyes off the road and their hands off the wheel.

“Teenage drivers are so comfortable with mobile devices that they tend to overestimate their ability to multitask while driving,” said Bruce Simons-Morton, M.P.H., Ed.D., a senior investigator at NIH’s Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) and one of the authors of the study.

In addition to documenting a driver’s dialing, texting, browsing or reaching for a phone, researchers assessed numerous “secondary tasks,” including dancing to music, attending to personal hygiene, and eating or drinking. The study found that the greatest crash risk came from visual distractions related to using cell phones and reaching for objects.

“During their first year of independent driving, teens often engage in many different activities behind the wheel that could lead to a crash,” said Pnina Gershon, Ph.D., the study’s lead author. “Teenage drivers may benefit from interventions that monitor and alert them during frequent or prolonged inattention to the road.”