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Assessing national nutrition security: The UK reliance on imports to meet population energy and nutrient recommendations

Nutrition security describes the adequacy of the food supply to meet not only energy but also macronutrient and micronutrient requirements for the population. The aim of this study was to develop a method to assess trends in national nutrition security and the contribution of imports to nutrition se...

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Autores principales: Macdiarmid, Jennie I., Clark, Heather, Whybrow, Stephen, de Ruiter, Henri, McNeill, Geraldine
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5831084/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29489830
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0192649
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author Macdiarmid, Jennie I.
Clark, Heather
Whybrow, Stephen
de Ruiter, Henri
McNeill, Geraldine
author_facet Macdiarmid, Jennie I.
Clark, Heather
Whybrow, Stephen
de Ruiter, Henri
McNeill, Geraldine
author_sort Macdiarmid, Jennie I.
collection PubMed
description Nutrition security describes the adequacy of the food supply to meet not only energy but also macronutrient and micronutrient requirements for the population. The aim of this study was to develop a method to assess trends in national nutrition security and the contribution of imports to nutrition security, using the UK as a case study. Food supply data from FAO food balance sheets and national food composition tables were used to estimate the nutrient content of domestically produced food, imported food and exported food. Nutrition security was defined as the total nutrient supply (domestic production, minus exports, plus imports) to meet population-level nutrient requirements. The results showed that the UK was nutrition secure over the period 1961–2011 for energy, macronutrients and key micronutrients, with the exception of total carbohydrates and fibre, which may be due to the loss of fibre incurred by processing cereals into refined products. The supply of protein exceeded population requirements and could be met with domestic production alone. Even excluding all meat there was sufficient protein for population requirements. The supply of total fat, saturated fat and sugar considerably exceeded the current dietary recommendation. As regards nutrition security in 2010, the UK was reliant on imported foods to meet energy, fibre, total carbohydrate, iron, zinc and vitamin A requirements. This analysis demonstrates the importance of including nutrients other than energy to determine the adequacy of the food supply. The methodology also provides an alternative perspective on food security and self-sufficiency by assessing the dependency on imports to meet population level nutritional requirements.
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spelling pubmed-58310842018-03-19 Assessing national nutrition security: The UK reliance on imports to meet population energy and nutrient recommendations Macdiarmid, Jennie I. Clark, Heather Whybrow, Stephen de Ruiter, Henri McNeill, Geraldine PLoS One Research Article Nutrition security describes the adequacy of the food supply to meet not only energy but also macronutrient and micronutrient requirements for the population. The aim of this study was to develop a method to assess trends in national nutrition security and the contribution of imports to nutrition security, using the UK as a case study. Food supply data from FAO food balance sheets and national food composition tables were used to estimate the nutrient content of domestically produced food, imported food and exported food. Nutrition security was defined as the total nutrient supply (domestic production, minus exports, plus imports) to meet population-level nutrient requirements. The results showed that the UK was nutrition secure over the period 1961–2011 for energy, macronutrients and key micronutrients, with the exception of total carbohydrates and fibre, which may be due to the loss of fibre incurred by processing cereals into refined products. The supply of protein exceeded population requirements and could be met with domestic production alone. Even excluding all meat there was sufficient protein for population requirements. The supply of total fat, saturated fat and sugar considerably exceeded the current dietary recommendation. As regards nutrition security in 2010, the UK was reliant on imported foods to meet energy, fibre, total carbohydrate, iron, zinc and vitamin A requirements. This analysis demonstrates the importance of including nutrients other than energy to determine the adequacy of the food supply. The methodology also provides an alternative perspective on food security and self-sufficiency by assessing the dependency on imports to meet population level nutritional requirements. Public Library of Science 2018-02-28 /pmc/articles/PMC5831084/ /pubmed/29489830 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0192649 Text en © 2018 Macdiarmid et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Macdiarmid, Jennie I.
Clark, Heather
Whybrow, Stephen
de Ruiter, Henri
McNeill, Geraldine
Assessing national nutrition security: The UK reliance on imports to meet population energy and nutrient recommendations
title Assessing national nutrition security: The UK reliance on imports to meet population energy and nutrient recommendations
title_full Assessing national nutrition security: The UK reliance on imports to meet population energy and nutrient recommendations
title_fullStr Assessing national nutrition security: The UK reliance on imports to meet population energy and nutrient recommendations
title_full_unstemmed Assessing national nutrition security: The UK reliance on imports to meet population energy and nutrient recommendations
title_short Assessing national nutrition security: The UK reliance on imports to meet population energy and nutrient recommendations
title_sort assessing national nutrition security: the uk reliance on imports to meet population energy and nutrient recommendations
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5831084/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29489830
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0192649
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