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A new paper from the University of Delaware's Dongyang Wei and Kyle Davis attempts to remedy this situation by looking at how staple grains can be used as an effective food group for dietary shifts that can be culturally appropriate as well as environmentally sustainable.
Their paper was recently published in Environmental Research Letters.
Wei, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Geography and Spatial Sciences, served as the lead author on the paper and said that while previous studies have focused on parts of this issue -- such as considering foods that have lower environmental impacts and offer higher nutrition levels -- this study wanted to incorporate local dietary preferences to see if the proposed shifts would actually be feasible.
"We wanted to take the local preferences and the cultural acceptance into consideration because that will increase the chances that sustainable diets will actually be accepted," said Wei.
Working with Davis, assistant professor in the College of Earth, Ocean and Environment's Department of Geography and Spatial Sciences and the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources' Department of Plant and Soil Sciences and a resident faculty member with UD's Data Science Institute, Wei examined how country-specific shifts in cereal supply, which currently accounts for more than 40% of dietary calories, protein, iron and zinc world-wide, could contribute to more sustainable diets.
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