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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Ithaca, New York » Robert W. Holley Center for Agriculture & Health » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #147097
Title: FARMING OF NUTRITIOUS FOODS: AGRICULTURAL TECHNOLOGIES FOR IMPROVED HUMAN HEALTH

Author
item Welch, Ross

Submitted to: International Fertilizer Industry Association-Food and Agriuclture Organization of the United Nations Agriculture Conference
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/26/2003
Publication Date: 5/1/2003
Citation: WELCH, R.M. FARMING OF NUTRITIOUS FOODS: AGRICULTURAL TECHNOLOGIES FOR IMPROVED HUMAN HEALTH. INTERNATIONAL FERTILIZER INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION-FOOD AND AGRIUCLTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS AGRICULTURE CONFERENCE. 2003.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Human existence requires that agriculture provide at least 42 nutrients (e.g., vitamins, minerals, trace elements, amino acids, essential fatty acids) in amounts needed to meet metabolic demands during all seasons. If food systems within nations do not meet these demands, mortality and morbidity rates increase, worker productivity declines, livelihoods are diminished and societies suffer. Today, many food systems within the developing world cannot meet the nutritional needs of the societies they support due mostly to farming systems that cannot produce enough nutrients to meet human needs throughout the year. Nutrition transitions are also occurring in many rapidly developing counties that are causing chronic disease (e.g., cancer, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and osteoporosis) rates to increase substantially. In many developed nations diet-related chronic diseases are at alarming rates causing consumer interest in health promoting foods (i.e., functional foods, phytochemicals, etc.) to increase greatly. These global developments point to the need to link agricultural technologies to human health. This paper reviews some ways in which agriculture can contribute significantly to reducing malnutrition and chronic disease globally. It concludes that it is imperative that close linkages be forged between the agriculture, nutrition and health arenas in order to find sustainable solutions to malnutrition and that agriculture become the primary intervention tool to use in the fight against diet-related diseases.