UK food and nutrition security during and after the COVID-19 pandemic

Food portion sizes: trends and drivers in an obesogenic environment

The prevalence of overweight and obesity in children and adults has increased worldwide. A strong environmental factor contributing to the obesity epidemic is food portion size (PS). This review evaluates the current evidence linking food PS to obesity, examines the effects of PS on energy intake (EI), and discusses the drivers of food PS selection. The leading causes of the rise in PS include globalisation, intensive farming methods, the impact of World War II, due to shortage of staple foods, and the notion of 'waste not, want not'. Large PS of energy-dense foods may stimulate overconsumption, leading to high EI levels. However, the studies have not shown a cause-and-effect relationship, due to confounding factors. Important mechanisms explaining the attractiveness of larger PS leading to higher EI levels are value for money, portion distortion, labels on food packaging, and tableware. Consumers depend on external rather than internal PS cues to guide consumption, irrespective of satiety levels. Further research is recommended on food consumption patterns to inform policymakers and provide information and insights about changes in diet.

Opportunities to improve population health: possibilities for healthier food environments

The recent Covid-19 pandemic highlighted stark social inequalities, notably around access to food, nutrition and to green or blue space (i.e. outdoor spaces with vegetation and water). Consequently, obesity is socio-economically patterned by this inequality; and while the environmental drivers of obesity are widely acknowledged, there is currently little upstream intervention. We know that living with obesity contributes to increasing health inequalities, and places healthcare systems under huge strain. Our environment could broadly be described obesogenic, in the sense of supporting unhealthful eating patterns and sedentary behaviour. Evidence points to the existence of nearly 700 UK obesity policies, all of which have had little success. Obesity prevention and treatment has focused on educational and behavioural interventions targeted at individual consumers. A more sustainable approach would be to try and change the environments that promote less healthy eating and high energy intake as well as sedentary behaviour. Approaches which modify the environment have the potential to assist in the prevention of this complex condition. This review paper focuses on the role of wider food environments or foodscapes. While there is an imperfect evidence base relating to the role of the foodscape in terms of the obesity crisis, policy, practice, civic society and industry must work together and take action now, in areas where current evidence suggests change is required. Despite the current cost-of-living crisis, shaping the foodscape to better support healthful eating decisions has the potential to be a key aspect of a successful obesity prevention intervention.

Greenhouse Gas Emission: Perception during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The period 2020/2021 was an unprecedented and historic time for industrial, economic, and societal activities all over the world with great challenges to human health, the ecosystems, and other aspects of human endeavors owing to the COVID-19 or SARS-CoV-2 (CV-19) pandemic which is now a topical aspect of research interest. Despite the negative impacts of the CV-19 pandemic, there are also positive reports during the CV-19 pandemic such as the reduction of gas flare, reduction in the burning of fossil fuels from automobile exhaust and a reduction in the other ensuing factors of greenhouse gases emissions (which is one of the major drives for global warming and climate change as well as other environmental effluences). Hence, this brief perspective review study is centered on greenhouse gas (GHG) emission. The study employs a methodical approach to analyze some already available research studies from existing publications and databases on GHG emission using the perception during the CV-19 pandemic. The specific findings from this review show that, from the meteorological perspective, the global response to the catastrophe ensuing from the CV-19 pandemic has a great influence on the reduction of GHGs, the reduction in the burning of fossil fuels from automobiles and industrial devices, and the reduction in the other ensuing factors of GHG emission. Hence, it will not be far from the truth to conclude that there is a possible positive connection between the CV-19 pandemic and GHG emissions. The study has a direct impact on the environment owing to the negative and positive environmental consequences of the CV-19 pandemic. Suggestions and recommendations in the form of future prospects of GHG emission vis-à-vis global warming and climate change are also discussed. Furthermore, suggestions on how to improve food security and agriculture during a pandemic such as the CV-19 outbreak period are highlighted.

Mapping the landscape and structure of global research on nutrition and COVID-19: visualization analysis

BACKGROUND

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has had a significant influence on nutritional status. There have been several studies on dietary habits and nutritional status in connection with COVID-19. However, there has been no research on the bibliometric analysis of these papers. Therefore, our objective was to assess the most relevant scientific research on nutrition and COVID-19, as well as to assess current hot themes.

METHODS

We obtained data from the Scopus database on June 30, 2021. Qualitative and quantitative analyzes were conducted based on the Scopus. Collaboration and term analysis was performed using VOSviewer software version 1.6.16.

RESULTS

At the time of data collection, there were 177,946 documents in COVID-19. Scopus found 1885 articles related to nutrition and COVID-19 after narrowing the search to those terms. This includes 1309 (69.44%) research articles, 268 (14.22%) review papers, and 308 other types of document. The USA was the largest producer, with 24.83% of the documents, followed by Italy with 11.88% (n = 224), the UK with 10.82% (n = 204), and China with 7.59% (n = 143). The most active institution was Sapienza Università di Roma (n = 30, 1.59%). The leading journal in COVID-19 nutrition research was Nutrients (n = 115, 6.10%). The article with 310 citations published by Di Renzo et al. in 2020 was the most influential reference. The hot topics were stratified into three clusters: (1) "Food security in the COVID-19 pandemic"; (2) "nutritional determinants and COVID-19 outcomes"; and (3) "changes in dietary habits during the COVID-19 pandemic and its consequences".

CONCLUSIONS

This is the first bibliometric research to offer comprehensive information on COVID-19 and nutrition in the published literature. Research will likely be helpful to scholars and policymakers. This study sheds light on the growth and development of nutrition and covid-19-related research and should contribute to the expansion of the global frontier in the major hot topics, including "food security in the COVID-19 pandemic"; "nutritional determinants and COVID-19 outcomes"; and "changes in diet habits during the COVID-19 pandemic and its consequences".

Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Food Security and Agriculture in Iran: A Survey

The consequences of COVID-19 on the economy and agriculture have raised many concerns about global food security, especially in developing countries. Given that food security is a critical component that is affected by global crises, beside the limited studies carried out on the macro-impacts of COVID-19 on food security in Iran, this paper is an attempt to address the dynamic impacts of COVID-19 on food security along with economic and environmental challenges in Iran. For this purpose, a survey was conducted with the hypothesis that COVID-19 has not affected food security in Iran. To address this fundamental hypothesis, we applied the systematic review method to obtain the evidence. Various evidences, including indices and statistics, were collected from national databases, scientific reports, field observations, and interviews. Preliminary results revealed that COVID-19 exerts its effects on the economy, agriculture, and food security of Iran through six major mechanisms, corresponding to a 30% decrease in the purchasing power parity in 2020 beside a significant increase in food prices compared to 2019. On the other hand, the expanding environmental constraints in Iran reduce the capacity of the agricultural sector to play a crucial role in the economy and ensure food security, and in this regard, COVID-19 forces the national programs and budget to combat rising ecological limitations. Accordingly, our study rejects the hypothesis that COVID-19 has not affected food security in Iran.

Qualitative Research on Solving Difficulties in Maintaining Continuity of Food Supply Chain on the Meat Market during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Although the pandemic phenomenon is not the first of its kind in human history, the common feature of COVID-19 is its rapid impact on the global economy. The challenge for the national economy on the world stage is to maintain a continuous food supply. The scientific purpose of the study is to report, analyze and evaluate backgrounds, causes of instabilities and their effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on supply and demand side of the meat market in the United States of America, China and Russia. The practical purpose of the study is to present implemented measures and recommendations on how to return to meat market equilibrium. In the theoretical part of the study, the revised public source of information coming from well-known organizations such as: EC, FAO, OECD, and WB, are used. In the practical part of the manuscript, qualitative research on the People’s Republic of China, Russian Federation, and the United States of America, along with semi-structured in-depth interviews with experts and Ishikawa diagram are presented. The primary data come from authors’ own research and collection of multiple sources. The article indicates the use of qualitative systematic review, supported by a creation of a prototype of the issues of maintaining continuity of the food supply chain during the COVID-19 pandemic in the secondary sources, intensified by a keyword search. The results of the research are diverse and oriented toward the needs of the analyzed meat markets. In the case of the People’s Republic of China, the solution is to develop a system of subsidies and preferential rates for the use of rail transport in exports. In the case of Russia, the solution is to provide support to the meat and poultry farmers for cold storage of slaughtered animals. In the case of the USA, the solution is to develop technical and technological facilities in order to speed up the supply chain between local livestock with meat and poultry farmers. Moreover, the outcomes indicate that sustainability of the food supply chain needs well-thought-out support on agri-food supply production.

A Multifunctional Solution for Wicked Problems: Value-Chain Wide Facilitation of Legumes Cultivated at Bioregional Scales Is Necessary to Address the Climate-Biodiversity-Nutrition Nexus

Well-managed legume-based food systems are uniquely positioned to curtail the existential challenge posed by climate change through the significant contribution that legumes can make toward limiting Green House Gas (GHG) emissions. This potential is enabled by the specific functional attributes offered only by legumes, which deliver multiple co-benefits through improved ecosystem functions, including reduced farmland biodiversity loss, and better human-health and -nutrition provisioning. These three critical societal challenges are referred to collectively here as the “climate-biodiversity-nutrition nexus.” Despite the unparalleled potential of the provisions offered by legumes, this diverse crop group remains characterized as underutilized throughout Europe, and in many regions world-wide. This commentary highlights that integrated, diverse, legume-based, regenerative agricultural practices should be allied with more-concerted action on ex-farm gate factors at appropriate bioregional scales. Also, that this can be achieved whilst optimizing production, safeguarding food-security, and minimizing additional land-use requirements. To help avoid forfeiting the benefits of legume cultivation for system function, a specific and practical methodological and decision-aid framework is offered. This is based upon the identification and management of sustainable-development indicators for legume-based value chains, to help manage the key facilitative capacities and dependencies. Solving the wicked problems of the climate-biodiversity-nutrition nexus demands complex solutions and multiple benefits and this legume-focus must be allied with more-concerted policy action, including improved facilitation of the catalytic provisions provided by collaborative capacity builders—to ensure that the knowledge networks are established, that there is unhindered information flow, and that new transformative value-chain capacities and business models are established.