Nature foodPub Date : 2026-07-29DOI: 10.1038/s43016-026-01407-z
Anna K. Farmery
{"title":"Improved data reveal the role of aquatic foods","authors":"Anna K. Farmery","doi":"10.1038/s43016-026-01407-z","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s43016-026-01407-z","url":null,"abstract":"Increasing seafood consumption could substantially contribute to overcoming widespread nutritional deficiencies in Brazil. Improving the availability of information on consumption and the nutrient content of aquatic foods is helping to highlight their role within broader food systems and ensure that their potential contribution is realized.","PeriodicalId":94151,"journal":{"name":"Nature food","volume":"7 8","pages":"740-741"},"PeriodicalIF":24.7,"publicationDate":"2026-07-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148623476","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Nature foodPub Date : 2026-07-29DOI: 10.1038/s43016-026-01402-4
Maria L. X. Gallina, Cesar A. M. M. Cordeiro, Linda Eggertsen, Carlos E. L. Ferreira, Ronaldo B. Francini-Filho, Kátia M. F. Freire, Vinicius J. Giglio, Natalia Hanazaki, Guilherme O. Longo, Thiago C. Mendes, Juan P. Quimbayo, Daniele A. Vila-Nova, Luiza S. Waechter, André L. Luza, Mariana G. Bender
{"title":"Seafood consumption could help fill nutrition gaps in Brazil","authors":"Maria L. X. Gallina, Cesar A. M. M. Cordeiro, Linda Eggertsen, Carlos E. L. Ferreira, Ronaldo B. Francini-Filho, Kátia M. F. Freire, Vinicius J. Giglio, Natalia Hanazaki, Guilherme O. Longo, Thiago C. Mendes, Juan P. Quimbayo, Daniele A. Vila-Nova, Luiza S. Waechter, André L. Luza, Mariana G. Bender","doi":"10.1038/s43016-026-01402-4","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s43016-026-01402-4","url":null,"abstract":"Seafood plays a vital yet underexplored role in addressing nutritional deficiencies in tropical countries. Despite Brazil’s vast coastline and marine biodiversity, seafood contribution to human nutrition remains insufficiently quantified. Here we present a nationwide assessment of seafood’s nutritional role in Brazil by integrating household-level dietary data (n > 30,000), nutrient composition of protein sources and fisheries statistics. We find that average seafood intake is below recommended levels, at 5.3 kg per capita per year, while nutritional deficiencies, including vitamin A and calcium deficiencies, remain widespread. Projections show that increasing seafood consumption from 6% to 25% of total protein intake could substantially reduce these deficiencies. However, seafood demand exceeds fisheries supply in several states, underscoring the limited potential to increase fishery catches and that targeting seafood consumption based on nutritional value could maximize health benefits. Our findings emphasize the role of marine resources in human nutrition and underscore the need for improved fisheries governance and sustainable seafood policies in Brazil. Brazil’s seafood consumption remains low despite its rich marine biodiversity. The study suggests that better use of seafood could help address nutritional gaps, in combination with improved fisheries governance and sustainable seafood policies.","PeriodicalId":94151,"journal":{"name":"Nature food","volume":"7 8","pages":"773-781"},"PeriodicalIF":24.7,"publicationDate":"2026-07-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148612696","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Nature foodPub Date : 2026-07-28DOI: 10.1038/s43016-026-01405-1
Stewart Jennings, Andrew Challinor, Jennie I. Macdiarmid, Richard King, Edward Pope, Stephen Whitfield, Rebecca Sarku, Christian Chomba, Masiye Nawiko, Shiluva Chauke Nkanyani, Graham Horgan, Jon Hellin, Mary Ng’endo, Eleanor Fisher, Liangzhi You, Anne Timu, Grazia Pacillo, Giulia Caroli, Anna Belli, Pedro Anglaze Chilambe, Evan Girvetz, Sabrina Rose, Giriraj Amarnath, Alan Kennedy-Asser, Richard Rigby, Ana Maria Loboguerrero
{"title":"Adaptive policies balancing trade, productivity and cropland increases can support Zambia’s nutrition security under future climate shocks","authors":"Stewart Jennings, Andrew Challinor, Jennie I. Macdiarmid, Richard King, Edward Pope, Stephen Whitfield, Rebecca Sarku, Christian Chomba, Masiye Nawiko, Shiluva Chauke Nkanyani, Graham Horgan, Jon Hellin, Mary Ng’endo, Eleanor Fisher, Liangzhi You, Anne Timu, Grazia Pacillo, Giulia Caroli, Anna Belli, Pedro Anglaze Chilambe, Evan Girvetz, Sabrina Rose, Giriraj Amarnath, Alan Kennedy-Asser, Richard Rigby, Ana Maria Loboguerrero","doi":"10.1038/s43016-026-01405-1","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s43016-026-01405-1","url":null,"abstract":"Policies in sub-Saharan Africa are constrained by a limited knowledge of climate change extremes and a focus on agricultural production rather than nutrition supply. Here we model the impacts of future extremes on national-level calorie and nutrient supply in Zambia for production and nutrition focused policy scenarios. We identify the specific cropland, yield and import increases required to achieve climate-resilient nutrition security and highlight policy options. Sub-Saharan Africa’s food systems are increasingly vulnerable to climate change. Using the integrated Future Estimator for Emissions and Diets (iFEED) framework, Zambian nutrition security and policy options are explored under average and extreme climate scenarios.","PeriodicalId":94151,"journal":{"name":"Nature food","volume":"7 8","pages":"756-762"},"PeriodicalIF":24.7,"publicationDate":"2026-07-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.comhttps://www.nature.com/articles/s43016-026-01405-1.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148611392","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Nature foodPub Date : 2026-07-23DOI: 10.1038/s43016-026-01404-2
Yixuan Wang
{"title":"Food waste recycling shifts burdens from climate to soil","authors":"Yixuan Wang","doi":"10.1038/s43016-026-01404-2","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s43016-026-01404-2","url":null,"abstract":"Contamination from plastic packaging poses a key challenge for expanding organics recycling. Now, the impact of diverting all post-manufacturing food waste in the United States away from landfills is quantified in terms of greenhouse gas release, nutrient loading and plastic pollution.","PeriodicalId":94151,"journal":{"name":"Nature food","volume":"7 8","pages":"744-745"},"PeriodicalIF":24.7,"publicationDate":"2026-07-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148581857","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Nature foodPub Date : 2026-07-23DOI: 10.1038/s43016-026-01396-z
Katherine K. Porterfield, Micayla N. Schambura, Eric D. Roy
{"title":"Food waste recycling in the USA can reduce climate and nutrient pollution impacts yet risks plastic accumulation in soils","authors":"Katherine K. Porterfield, Micayla N. Schambura, Eric D. Roy","doi":"10.1038/s43016-026-01396-z","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s43016-026-01396-z","url":null,"abstract":"Diverting food waste to composting and anaerobic digestion can reduce landfill methane emissions and contribute towards a circular bioeconomy, but trade-offs can be incurred from nutrient loading to aquatic ecosystems and contamination from plastic packaging. Here we used mass balance modelling and life cycle assessment to compare the climate, nutrient loading and plastic pollution impacts of current landfill-dominant US food waste management with hypothetical organics recycling scenarios. We estimate that nationwide implementation of organics recycling could reduce the climate impact of US food waste management by 89–99%, and associated nitrogen and phosphorus loading to downstream waterways by 49–54% and 78–98%, respectively, relative to current landfill-dominant practices. However, land application of food waste-derived composts and digestates would offset <2% of US mineral nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizer consumption annually and, without innovations in food packaging design, could discharge ~20,000 t of plastic to US agricultural soils each year. Life cycle assessment and mass balance modelling reveal trade-offs in diverting US food waste from landfills to composting and anaerobic digestion. Although climate impacts and nutrient loading would decline, risks of plastic pollution in agricultural soils are estimated to increase.","PeriodicalId":94151,"journal":{"name":"Nature food","volume":"7 8","pages":"763-772"},"PeriodicalIF":24.7,"publicationDate":"2026-07-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148581907","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Nature foodPub Date : 2026-07-22DOI: 10.1038/s43016-026-01389-y
Oliver Taherzadeh, Arthur Schoorlemmer, Paul Behrens, Martin Bruckner, Hongyi Cai
{"title":"Dietary environmental impacts and quality differ by socio-demographic characteristics","authors":"Oliver Taherzadeh, Arthur Schoorlemmer, Paul Behrens, Martin Bruckner, Hongyi Cai","doi":"10.1038/s43016-026-01389-y","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s43016-026-01389-y","url":null,"abstract":"Sustainable food system transitions will likely require targeted dietary strategies, yet most models typically estimate environmental footprints at the aggregate level and overlook variation between individuals and contexts. Here we develop a globally harmonized model integrating individual food intake and supply chain data to estimate diet-related climate, water and land impacts, and dietary quality using the Alternative Healthy Eating Index (AHEI), across 72 socio-demographic subgroups in 165 countries. We find large disparities across groups. Highly educated urban men aged 15–34 years have the greatest emissions (median, 5.66 kgCO2e d−1), with 62% of their diets plant sourced. Low education, rural women aged 35–54 years have the lowest (2.85 kgCO2e d−1), with plant-sourced foods comprising 70% of their diets. Healthier diets are consistently associated with lower environmental impacts, with each 5% increase in AHEI associated with a 7.7% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, a 4.4% reduction in water footprint and a 7.2% reduction in land footprint. Countries cluster into distinct patterns of diet quality and sustainability, indicating that targeted rather than uniform strategies are needed to accelerate sustainable dietary transitions. Dietary intake and supply chain data from 165 countries reveal demographic disparities in diet-related environmental impacts. Impacts are greatest among young, highly educated urban men, and healthier diets are associated with high plant-based food intake and lower environmental footprints.","PeriodicalId":94151,"journal":{"name":"Nature food","volume":"7 7","pages":"701-710"},"PeriodicalIF":24.7,"publicationDate":"2026-07-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148560087","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Nature foodPub Date : 2026-07-22DOI: 10.1038/s43016-026-01382-5
Hadi Hadi, D. K. Ray, P. Borrelli, J. S. Gerber, N. Shokri, S. Roman, D. Wuepper
{"title":"Land degradation is associated with larger crop yield gaps across global croplands","authors":"Hadi Hadi, D. K. Ray, P. Borrelli, J. S. Gerber, N. Shokri, S. Roman, D. Wuepper","doi":"10.1038/s43016-026-01382-5","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s43016-026-01382-5","url":null,"abstract":"There is a long-standing concern that land degradation reduces agricultural productivity, particularly in the long run. However, the empirical evidence on this issue remains inconclusive. Here, we present a global quantification of the link between land degradation, measured as the difference between current and historical conditions, and crop yield gaps, defined as the difference between attainable and attained yields. Our analysis establishes that, on average, a 10% increase in land degradation is associated with a roughly 2% increase in average crop yield gaps. Regionally, the loss can reach up to 6% for a 10% increase in land degradation in the globally most affected hotspots. These include northern and southern India, northeastern China, the US Midwest, as well as parts of Central and South America, particularly northern Argentina. Aggregated across the world’s croplands, this translates into estimated losses of 20 million tonnes in crop production, corresponding to 52 trillion kcal, roughly the annual food calorie supply for 71 million people, and 4 billion USD in annual crop revenues. Land degradation is widely recognized as a threat to food security. Using high-resolution global data on multiple land degradation indicators and crop yield gaps, the study shows that greater historical land degradation is associated with larger yield gaps in major food-producing regions. These findings highlight the need for sustainable agricultural intensification and agri-environmental policies to reduce land degradation and protect future food production.","PeriodicalId":94151,"journal":{"name":"Nature food","volume":"7 7","pages":"678-687"},"PeriodicalIF":24.7,"publicationDate":"2026-07-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.comhttps://www.nature.com/articles/s43016-026-01382-5.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148560088","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Nature foodPub Date : 2026-07-22DOI: 10.1038/s43016-026-01383-4
Yanxian Li, Jin Yan, Pan He, Prajal Pradhan, Shuai Fang, Yuli Shan, Franco Ruzzenenti, Klaus Hubacek
{"title":"Youth lead current dietary emissions while seniors increasingly drive total emission growth","authors":"Yanxian Li, Jin Yan, Pan He, Prajal Pradhan, Shuai Fang, Yuli Shan, Franco Ruzzenenti, Klaus Hubacek","doi":"10.1038/s43016-026-01383-4","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s43016-026-01383-4","url":null,"abstract":"Diets across age groups vary in both nutritional quality and greenhouse gas emissions, yet their relationship remains poorly understood in the context of population aging and evolving dietary patterns. We evaluated dietary emissions associated with 141 products across 22 age groups in 149 countries from 2000 to 2019, combining age-specific dietary intake from the Global Dietary Database with a consumption-based emission inventory derived from FAOSTAT. We quantified changes in emissions alongside shifts in nutritional quality and examined contributions of demographic and dietary factors. Adolescents and young adults generally had the highest per capita dietary emissions, while seniors contributed most to global emission growth, particularly in high- and upper-middle-income countries. Increased meat intake was a leading contributor to rising emissions and frequently coincided with declining nutritional quality. These findings highlight the need for dietary-emission mitigation efforts across age groups that account for demographic shifts, nutritional needs and national development contexts. Analysis of age-specific dietary emissions in 149 countries shows that adolescents and young adults have the highest per capita emissions, while population aging, particularly in higher-income regions, corresponds to growth in total emissions. Rising meat consumption, especially red meat, is the dominant contributor to increasing emissions and often coincides with declining nutritional quality.","PeriodicalId":94151,"journal":{"name":"Nature food","volume":"7 7","pages":"688-700"},"PeriodicalIF":24.7,"publicationDate":"2026-07-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148560071","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Nature foodPub Date : 2026-07-22DOI: 10.1038/s43016-026-01381-6
Christian Folberth
{"title":"Cropland deterioration widens yield gaps","authors":"Christian Folberth","doi":"10.1038/s43016-026-01381-6","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s43016-026-01381-6","url":null,"abstract":"The degradation of agricultural land poses a vital threat to productivity and is, in some cases, hard to reverse. Curbing this trend is essential to avoid cascading impacts on natural ecosystems, biodiversity and human health.","PeriodicalId":94151,"journal":{"name":"Nature food","volume":"7 7","pages":"632-633"},"PeriodicalIF":24.7,"publicationDate":"2026-07-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148560084","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}