Meat, eggs and dairy are the “major sources of nutrition” for the world’s population, especially during childhood and pregnancy, the World Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said in a report released today, which also calls for livestock to solve the problem. its impact on the environment.

Faced with the scale of malnutrition, the UN agency is urging governments to “promote the benefits of land-based animal products” that provide nutrients “hard to obtain in a plant-based diet.”

These FAO findings are based on a report compiled after collecting more than 500 scientific articles and presented as the “most comprehensive” analysis to date of the benefits as well as risks associated with animal products.

“Products from land-raised animals contain high-quality protein, a range of essential fatty acids, iron, calcium, zinc, selenium, vitamin B12 (…), which provide essential functions for health and development,” the organization said in a statement.

“This is especially true during certain important periods of life such as pregnancy, breastfeeding, childhood, adolescence and old age,” adds the FAO, which does not include seafood in its report.

Eating these foods may reduce stunting and wasting (or malnutrition) in children under five years of age, prevent underweight children, and prevent anemia in women of childbearing age.

Iron, vitamin A and zinc deficiencies are among the most common in the world. More than one in two children between the ages of approximately 3 and 6 suffer from at least one of these deficiencies, mostly in South Asia, East Asia, the Pacific and sub-Saharan Africa.

However, the livestock sector will have to face “certain challenges”, primarily environmental ones, stress FAO Deputy Head Maria Elena Semedo and FAO Chief Economist Maximo Torrero Cullen.

In addition to deforestation and unsustainable water use, this sector accounts for 14.5% of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions.

The organization also reminds that “eating, even minimally, processed red meat can increase the risk of mortality and chronic disease, especially cardiovascular disease and colon cancer.”

Source: MONKEY BEE

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