Macro partitioning
Current global agricultural production overproduces grains, fats, and sugars while underproducing fruits, vegetables, and protein, creating a nutritional imbalance that contributes to obesity and diabetes.
Stop assuming that having enough food means you are eating well. Current global diets are skewed heavily toward grains, fats, and sugars, which drives obesity and diabetes. To fix this, prioritize increasing the intake of fruits, vegetables, and plant-based proteins, and reduce reliance on energy-dense processed foods.
Thus, the world currently over-produces grains, fats, and sugars while greatly under-producing fruits and vegetables and, to a smaller extent, proteins... The failure of global agriculture to provide a balanced diet presumably contributes to the current epidemic of obesity and diabetes.
Why this rating
Based on comprehensive FAO data and established nutritional guidelines (HHEP), though it is a modeling study rather than a clinical trial.
Source
When too much isn’t enough: Does current food production meet global nutritional needs?
Krishna Bahadur KC et al. · PLoS ONE · 2018
DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0205683
More from this paper
- Shifting global production to match the Harvard Healthy Eating Plate (HHEP) recommendations would save 51 million hectares of arable land compared to current production levels.Good
- Adopting the HHEP diet increases total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 49% compared to the current global diet, primarily due to increased animal-source protein consumption.Good
- A complete shift to plant-based protein (vegetarian diet) reduces total agricultural land use and GHG emissions compared to the HHEP diet, despite requiring more arable land for crops.Good
Related findings · Macro partitioning
- Total daily protein intake of 1.6 g/kg/day is sufficient for maximizing resistance training-induced muscle gains, with an upper confidence interval of 2.2 g/kg/day.Strong
- Resistance exercise training combined with sufficient dietary protein intake acts synergistically to maximize skeletal muscle hypertrophy, with protein intake saturating around 1.6 g/kg/day for general populations and potentially requiring 2.0-2.2 g/kg/day for resistance-trained individuals.Strong
- Trans fats should be completely eliminated from the diet, as they increase LDL cholesterol, decrease HDL cholesterol, and are directly associated with increased coronary risk.Strong
This is one finding among thousands. Every one is graded and traced to its source, so you can see what the evidence actually supports. Browse the research →