Ty Beal Profile picture
15 Aug, 7 tweets, 2 min read
A thread to clarify this tweet, which was sometimes interpreted differently than I intended by both sides of the plant-animal divide.
For human and planetary health, I do think there needs to be moderation of animal-source foods at the population level, but how much depends on the context and method of production.
In my view, moderation would leave room for a very, very small amount of exclusive carnivores for those who absolutely need to be so for their auto-immune condition. And hopefully a much larger share of vegans, many of whom are making huge contributions to planetary health.
But I think it’s also important to recognize that plant-sourced and animal-sourced foods are not inherently healthy or unhealthy. It depends on the type of processing, quantity, dietary context, and individual.
And the same is true for environmental impact. Animal-source foods generally have a higher impact based on current average production practices per unit mass, kg, or protein. But there is a large variation in how they can be produced. It’s possible to produce then sustainably.
And plant-source foods can also be produced unsustainably. So the focus on just making sure diets are mostly plants is not that helpful because (1) diets are already mostly plants and (2) many plant-source foods can be unhealthy and unsustainable.
@Veganella_ @layaloves @MimiRossiJ This thread’s for you. I really do appreciate vegans. I’ll try to make that clearer going forward. I have an upcoming commentary on how to achieve nutrient adequacy and planetary health with lots of nuance. Stay tuned.

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More from @TyRBeal

25 Aug
I calculated the % of recommended nutrient intakes for adults on a #EATLancet planetary health diet using global aggregated food composition data. It falls short on iron, calcium, and especially zinc. We urgently need a sustainable food system but cannot ignore nutrient adequacy.
Deficiencies in many of these micronutrients are widespread globally, even in high-income countries like the US and UK, where 30–50% of women 15–49 have at least one micronutrient deficiency.
US 👉🏼
UK👇🏼
The top sources of priority micronutrients are organs, dark green leafy vegetables, mollusks, fish with bones, crustaceans, ruminant meat, eggs, and dairy.
Read 10 tweets
15 Aug
There is a lot of fighting amongst people with differing views on healthy and sustainable diets, particularly around the role of animal-source foods. But I think everyone can play a role in achieving diets at the population level that are good for human and planetary health.
Vegans are already playing an important role by advocating for animal rights and planetary health. Some could do a better job by ensuring their diets provide nutrient adequacy (using fortification and supplementation when needed), moderating intake of ultra-processed foods and...
...when possible, choosing foods that are produced using regenerative and sustainable production practices, like diverse farms. Just because it comes from a plant doesn't mean the production doesn't have a negative impact on animals and ecosystems (eg, intensive monocultures).
Read 9 tweets
9 Jun
Here is a comprehensive ranking of foods by density in six nutrients commonly lacking globally

Top sources:
•Organs (liver, spleen, kidney, heart)
•Dark leafy greens
•Shellfish (crustaceans, clams, mussels, oysters)
•Fish, w/ bones
•Ruminant meat
•Eggs
•Milk/cheese Image
Here's a breakdown of the nutrient density rating by nutrient

Top iron sources:
•Organs (liver, spleen, kidney, heart)
•Small dried fish
•Bivalves (clams, mussels, oysters)
•Beef/goat
•Pulses (beans, peas, lentils)
•Traditional grains (fonio, teff, millet, sorghum) Image
Nutrient density rating

Very high: provides an average of 1/3 of recommended intakes with ≤ 1/6 of both energy & mass recommended intakes (assuming an energy density of 1.3 kcal/g)
Read 10 tweets
30 May
Optimal sources of iron, zinc, calcium, folate, vitamin A & B12 are organs, small dried fish, cheese, beef/goat, eggs & dark leafy greens

Shows grams & kcals needed to provide 1/3 of recommended intakes for pregnant women

Nutrient density rating is preliminary & explained below
Foods with optimal nutrient density provide an average of 33.3% of recommended intakes with ≤ 16.7% of both energy (2,583 kcal) and mass (1987 g) recommended intakes (assuming an energy density of 1.3 kcal/g).
Foods with high nutrient density provide an average of 33.3% of recommended intakes with ≤ 33.3% of both energy and mass recommended intakes and with < 16.7% of either energy or mass recommended intakes.
Read 12 tweets
27 May
Excellent podcast with @NutritionDanny and @KevinH_PhD

Love Kevin’s advice at the end: love each other, exercise, and limit ultra-processed foods
sigmanutrition.com/episode376/
Important distinctions between the two groups in this study: the low-carb diet had nearly double the energy density (2.1 v 1.1), lower fiber (9 g v 31 g), & a higher proportion of energy from ultra-processed foods (32% v 26%) compared with the low-fat diet.nature.com/articles/s4159…
Yet both groups lost weight, & there was no significant differences in weight loss or fat loss between the two groups. So I think most people could maintain a healthy body weight on a variety of macronutrient ratios, animal-to-plant-source food ratios, & diets. Diet quality key.
Read 4 tweets
10 Mar
🚀 Now launched!

New supplement by @GAINAlliance & @UNICEF provides evidence-based findings on nutrient gaps & affordability

Read it here 👉🏼 academic.oup.com/nutritionrevie…

Read this thread for the key findings & implications 👇🏼

@UNICEFAfrica @UNICEFEthiopia @UNICEFROSA @UNICEFIndia •	The majority of young children in Eastern and Southern A
First, check out the related country briefs

Comprehensive Nutrient Gap Assessment (CONGA)
👉🏼 gainhealth.org/resources/repo…

Affordability analysis
👉🏼 gainhealth.org/resources/repo…
I won't bore you with the methods, but there's an entire paper on the CONGA method, if interested
👉🏼 academic.oup.com/nutritionrevie…
Read 36 tweets

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