I’ve found lots of tasty food news for you to help you save money, eat well, and make a difference!
- Cut your Covid-19 risk in half by cooking at home or getting take-out. At health facilities across the country, people who tested positive with Covid-19 were twice as likely to have eaten in restaurants as those who tested negative. After all, you have to take off your mask to eat or drink. You often sit close to people for fairly extended periods and talk face-to-face, too. See the study on the CDC website.
- Base your meals on fresh, wholesome ingredients for a long and active life. Eating ultra-processed food is dangerous, according to studies by a team of Spanish researchers. Their latest study shows it does genetic damage, shortening our cells’ telomeres. Study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Last year, they published a study showing that for each serving of ultra-processed food a day, the risk of death went up 18%. See the study in the BJM.
- Learn about international efforts to cut food waste. Join me online at the UN’s first International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste. This free online event highlights “the importance of working together to reduce food loss and waste to bring about transformative change that benefits the health of people and of the planet.” They want to cut food waste in half by 2030 at the consumer and retail level, and reduce losses all along the supply chain. September 29 at 10am EDT (16:00 CEST). Register here.
- The climate fires and the pandemic make it even tougher for farm workers. Strong local-food networks help relieve demands on any one region. Much of the nation’s food is grown on the West Coast, where farm workers continue to toil despite the pandemic, climate-fueled fires, and evacuation orders. Housing is cramped and many workers are undocumented, making things worse. See the story by Democracy Now.
- Fighting climate change fights hunger and disease. Research on new crops can help us adapt. Climate, Covid-19, finance, and nutrition are linked in non-obvious ways. Rising CO2 levels can make plants grow faster, but without corresponding increases in the soil nutrients, they may lack the amino acids, proteins, lipids, and vitamins that we rely on. Disaster-driven financial hardship can lead to hunger. Good diets and nutrition reduce the risk of conditions that lead to serious complications and death from Covid-19, including cancer, heart disease, and diabetes. Fortunately, researchers are working on improved crops, including UltraGrain from Ardent Mills of Colorado, which is a high-protein white wheat. See the story by the Thompson Reuters Foundation.
- Eating plants or at least not wasting meat can fight a variety of social ills. Slaughterhouses and meat-packing plants subjected their workers to repetitive motion injuries and other hazards well before Henry Ford set up his first assembly line. Now the conditions are ripe for breeding Covid-19 or triggering the next pandemic. These “disassembly lines” are huge, with just “50 enormous abattoirs account for 98% of cows killed in the US.” The authors offer a strong call to action. “Rather than being rivals, socialists, trade unionists, animal-liberation activists, public health officials and environmentalists should recognize their shared aim of abolishing relentless meat production.” See the story by The Guardian.
