Climate Change Is Depreciating Plant Nutrients

Climate Change Is Depreciating Plant Nutrients 

Previous research has shown that many food crops become less nutritious when grown under the CO2 levels expected by 2050, with reductions of protein, iron and zinc estimated at 3–17%.

Now experts say such changes could mean that by the middle of the century about 175 million more people develop a zinc deficiency, while 122 million people who are not currently protein deficient could become so.

In addition, about 1.4 billion women of childbearing age and infants under five years old will be living in regions where there will be the highest risk of iron deficiency.

Among other problems, zinc deficienciesare linked to troubles with wound healing, infections and diarrhoea; protein deficiencies are linked to stunted growth; and iron deficiencies are tied to complications in pregnancy and childbirth.

“This is another demonstration of how higher CO2 could affect global health that may not be as well recognised,” said Dr Matthew Smith, co-author of the study from the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health. “Continuing to keep up our vigilance around reducing CO2 emissions becomes all the more important because of this research.”

countries including the US, France and Australia and parts of south America are expected to experience little impact

an estimated 662 million people already protein deficient, and 1.5bn zinc deficient, many people could be pushed into deeper deficiencies as CO2 levels rise.

However the study had limitations, including that it assumed diets would stay constant over the coming years, while it did not take into account that rising CO2levels might increase the rate of plant growth. The authors note that even if individuals were able to eat more of the plants to get the same nutrient intake, they might end up with other issues like obesity, while climate effects such as increased temperatures and water stress could actually result in an overall decrease in crop yields.

The Effect of climate change is getting from bad to worse we climate change policies has to be taken into consideration to save the planet.