Carbon Dioxide May Rob Crops Of Nutrition, Leaving Millions At Risk

Myers and his colleagues wanted to quantify what those changes might mean for people around the world. To do this, they built a new database detailing the foods people in each country eat and the nutrient content of those foods. The database lists the "per capita consumption of 225 foods for 152 different countries." It also accounts for differences in diets in each country based on age and gender. The database allowed them to calculate the number of people within each country that aren't getting enough of certain nutrients. They could then project changes in the protein and iron content of their diets through 2050. Their results appear in two new studies, One study published in Environmental Health Perspectives estimates that the predicted decreases in the protein content of food crops may put about 150 million additional people at risk of protein deficiency by 2050. The other study, published online in GeoHealth, found that the available dietary iron supply could decrease in some high-risk regions. Wheat and rice are not high in protein, but nearly three-quarters of the world's population uses these two crops as "primary protein sources," the study says, based on data from the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization. And so, any reduction in protein contained in these crops can lead to health problems, particularly for poorer people in low income countries, says Myers.