🍩 From donuts to global health: I just presented at #EFFoST on how ultra-processed foods are reshaping our food systems. Here's what you need to know about UPFs and their worldwide impact... 🧵
What's your favorite (and maybe not-so-healthy) UPF? 🤔 Before we dive into why that donut might not be your best friend, here's what we'll cover... 🗺️
Not all processed foods are created equal - from basic food processing to ultra-processed foods, we'll explore the full spectrum and their global impact.

I got into a debate about the EAT-Lancet diet with Marco Springmann, an author of the report. Folks, this is as juicy as it gets in an academic journal 🤣

Marco’s letter: thelancet.com/journals/lanpl…
Our reply: thelancet.com/journals/lanpl… First, Marco corrected our misunderstanding of the EAT-Lancet's adequacy assessment. We had thought it was based solely on a few foods from the USDA but it was actually based on the methodology in this paper 👇
thelancet.com/journals/lanpl…

Our updated paper 👇
thelancet.com/journals/lanpl…

I recently gave a few lectures on micronutrients to different graduate classes, so I thought I'd post a thread with my slides.
1/27 Here's what I'll cover. Apologies if you've seen most of the slides before.
2/27

Animal source foods, especially ruminant livestock, typically perform poorly on environmental impact assessments.

Is this because they are inherently unsustainable?

Are crops inherently more sustainable?

Or are the metrics used to quantify the impact of livestock flawed? First, much of the current approach to livestock production is unsustainable and urgently needs to change. The same is true for crop production. But there are ways to produce livestock sustainably, and the current metrics used to quantify their impact have important flaws.

What are the health and environmental benefits and risks of animal source foods? Experts with personal diets ranging from fully plant-based to vegetarian and omnivore came together to answer this question by reviewing the latest evidence. What did we find?
sciencedirect.com/science/articl… There are health benefits of animal source foods
• Dense in bioavailable nutrients commonly lacking globally
• Support healthy growth and development of infants, young children, and adolescents
• Support healthy aging of older adults

There is a video on @FoxNews with @JesseBWatters and @bigfatsurprise circulating about Food Compass and the scandal of the dietary guidelines. I made the Chart that is displayed and have a few clarifying comments to add context to this issue.
First, this chart was not created by Tufts researchers. I made the chart using examples where I think the system gets things wrong to highlight its flaws. The chart is used in a preprint that is under review that raises concerns about Food Compass.
osf.io/preprints/soca…

When I first became interested in nutrition I ate a mostly paleo diet. This helped me improve my health substantially because I limited highly processed foods and shifted to whole foods. But whole grains and legumes are healthy foods for most people. I now eat these regularly. Yes, there are exceptions. And yes, some people do better with more or less. For many people, I think going from zero to regular consumption of grains may spike blood glucose and of legumes may cause bloating and gas. But our body, including our microbiome, needs time to adjust.

New study finds a person's Food Compass Score is correlated with a better Healthy Eating Index, BMI, blood pressure, HDL-C, HbA1c, fasting plasma glucose, overall metabolic health & lower prevalence of metabolic syndrome, CVD, cancer, lung disease & death.
nature.com/articles/s4146… Multrivariable models adjusted for age, sex, race/ethnicity, household income, education level, smoking status, total physical activity, average total energy intake, and alcohol consumption.

I promised I would post a thread on my presentation on animal vs alternative protein products and their environmental and economic sustainability. So here it goes...
1/55 If you have the patience, here's what I'll cover. Apologies if you've seen some of the slides before.
2/55

What is most likely the primary cause of the obesity epidemic? Probably the rise in ultra-processed foods, which can be proxied by vegetable oils. cc @DrEenfeldt @DrEenfeldt @PhilBakerNZ @jerryteixeira @tednaiman @maxlugavere @bschermd @fleroy1974 @BoydSwinburn @mackinprof @MaritKolby @vanvlietphd I'm sure the full cause is multifactorial. But it doesn't appear to be simply added sugars, animal fats, etc. Ultraprocessing destroys the food matrix & tends to facilitate overconsumption, among other negative effects @AnthonyFardet @GyorgyScrinis @CMonteiro_USP @MarkLawrence_Oz

For the first time we can now look at #gender differences in diet quality worldwide. The results may surprise you. Men tend to consume fewer healthy foods & more unhealthy foods.
1. More men consume soda
@UN_Women @MensHlthNetwork @WBG_Gender @melindagates
globaldietquality.org/reports 2. Men tend to consume more deep-fried food

No matter your food interests or perspective, the diet quality data from the Gallup World Poll have something for you. It's essential to know what the world eats.
1. Deep-fried food 2. Salty snacks, instant noodles, or fast food

Pleased to see this @IHME_UW study on the health risks of unprocessed red meat consumption. They quantify uncertainty with heterogeneity. Even if you think this finding should be significant, it is just a 5% relative risk for select outcomes at 50g/day.
nature.com/articles/s4159… And we know unprocessed red meat contributes to diet quality in positive ways, too, like nutrient adequacy, child growth, muscle health—especially for older adults, etc. And the study found no significant relationship between unprocessed red meat intake and total mortality.

🥳 Out now! Measuring What the World Eats from the Global Diet Quality Project. Diet quality data from 40+ countries on dietary diversity, fruits, vegetables, pulses, nuts, seeds, whole grains, red meat, processed meat, fish, ultraprocessed foods and more!
globaldietquality.org/reports TLDR: Most people worldwide are not consuming healthy diets. All populations are at high risk for noncommunicable diseases. Most women in many countries are not consuming enough vitamins and minerals. Men and urban residents are more likely to consume unhealthy foods.

Really enjoyed this discussion, particularly listing to @greenwoodae talk with such balance, nuance & humility. Beef has a role in healthy, sustainable diets when produced appropriately & consumed in a balanced diet. Some populations could increase intake, others could decrease.

https://twitter.com/bschermd/status/1582374120070578176

I discuss the nutrient density of beef, which is highlighted in this study.
frontiersin.org/articles/10.33…

If you missed the #HiddenHunger webinar I will post my slides on this thread.

You can watch the entire recording here:
gainhealth.org/events/new-glo…

@LancetGH paper is here:
thelancet.com/journals/langl… I started with a brief overview of the approach. More details are in the paper. In short, this was the first ever estimate of prevalence of any micronutrient deficiency worldwide.

🥳 Really excited to share the launch of the new Food Systems Dashboard!!!

The most comprehensive data source on food systems worldwide.

It includes data visualizations to describe and diagnose food systems and recommended actions to address challenges.
foodsystemsdashboard.org The "Global Data" view allows you to see over 200 indicators for 195 countries worldwide.

For example, here we can see how widespread ultraprocessed foods are in high-income countries.

High intakes of ultraprocessed foods are linked to obesity, diabetes, heart disease & cancer.

Interesting development on Food Compass. A Matters Arising article was published in @NatureFoodJnl highlighting numerous errors in how ultra-processed foods were classified. The authors published a correction but doubled down on the conclusions and strengths of Food Compass. 🧵 @NatureFoodJnl @MaritKolby @MarkLawrence_Oz @vanvlietphd @mackinprof @FlaminiaOrtenzi @StellaNordhagen @fleroy1974 @maxlugavere @AnthonyFardet @CMonteiro_USP First, some highlights: "Given the continued prevalence of micronutrient deficits globally, the quasi-total exclusion of meat, poultry, eggs, dairy, grains and mixed foods from the FCS recommended or ‘encouraged’ foods cannot be justified from any nutritional standpoint."

According to the Nutrition Impact Score (based on NutriScore), chips, onion rings, and pizza are healthier than meat, eggs, and dairy. I made this figure to suggest that using NutriScore to quantify health benefits and risks of foods and their environmental impact is problematic. The data are from this recent study in @PNASNews pnas.org/doi/full/10.10…

Here's a short 🧵 on the health risks from ultra-processed foods from an internal @GAINalliance meeting today. Ultra-processed foods are not only a problem in high-income countries. They are common worldwide. Ultra-processed foods are associated with mortality and numerous non-communicable diseases, such as obesity, diabetes, and heart disease.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.11…

New blog – "Nutrition programs and policies may benefit from specifically targeting the most micronutrient-dense foods—organs, small fish, dark leafy greens, shellfish, ruminant meat, eggs, milk, and fish w/ bones."
Blog 👉🏼 gainhealth.org/media/news/mic…
Paper 👇🏼frontiersin.org/articles/10.33… These foods can help fill critical nutrient gaps in iron, zinc, folate, vitamin A, calcium, and vitamin B12 in low- and middle-income countries, where dietary diversity is low and the burden of malnutrition is high—that is, many of the contexts where @GAINalliance has programs.