E
xciting new nutrition research develops every day.
The scientific community in general is as competitive
as ever and it is definitely a dog eat dog world in
academia. There has been a welcoming shift towards
the concept of “knowledge translation”, and
researchers are now systematically pressured to
include this aspect within their projects either in
grant applications or in the final manuscript itself.
When you Google “knowledge translation”, the CIHR
link is the first to show up! Although scientifically
derived, this term can be simply defined as the
applicability of individual research to beneficial
changes on a societal level. However, as
straightforward as this may seem, with gradual
development in scientific research, this application is
becoming increasingly harder to establish.
There is, in particular, one
aspect of knowledge
translation many
researchers and students
tend to forget although it
affects everyone:
Sustainability.
This may be a broad umbrella term, but
sustainability plays a huge role in the realistic
application of new research findings or
recommendations.
As graduate students from the nutrient department,
we can say with certainty that our projects do not
solely look at “food” and “health”, much to the
surprise of the public and other departments.
Although many of our end goals, in fact, affect the
individual being, should we not consider a more
conservationist mind-set? In that, maybe we simply
don’t live in a world where our recommendations are
sustainable. From the environmental perspective of
sustainability, the vessels for delivering our
recommended essential nutrients, i.e. foods, are
made available via massive agricultural systems that
unfortunately pollute like every other industry in the
world.
We know our planet is changing. Period. As
members of the litera l food chain, sustainability
should be more emphasized moving into the near
and distant future. The policies that researchers
help create with governments should be sustainable.
If all Canadians were suddenly to become regular
consumers of 7-10 fruits and vegetables a day, could
supply keep up with demand? A keen eye should be
placed on both, the effectiveness and acceptance of
Netherlands’ new food guide, which emphasizes
broad sustainability.
A recurring concern in the area of environmental
sustainability is dairy and beef. We can all agree
that dairy is one of the most efficient sources of
many nutrients, including protein, but this should
not rationalize for neglecting advanced techniques
on improving dairy sustainability (or making dairy
more sustainable).
Last week, both ABC and the Huffington Post
released articles related to studies that looked at The
immense effects of adding seaweed to cattle or
sheep feed on methane gas production. In sheep,
specifically, when asparagopsis (Type of seaweed)
was fed at 2% of the diet, a reduction of 50-70% in
methane production was observed continuously for
72 days. Obviously, there are many questions to be
answered, like how this would affect nutritional
value, and how sustainable seaweed production
would be, given the implementation of this
technique. I think this might need a concluding
sentence to sum up
Now to shift this from the experts to the individual.
Apart from what research tells us, there are things
we, as individuals, must be accountable for if we
want to participate in the shift to the idea of
sustainability. Food for thought. When will grocery
stores finally eliminate plastic bags – even the ones
for produce? When are coffee cups going to become
a thing of the past? Sustainability shouldn’t be a
movement that is reliant on the activist. This is
everyone’s responsibility - and an even bigger one
for researchers who help to formulate policy or
treatments that affect such individuals. Hopefully
soon, just like brushing our teeth, we can begin to
think regularly about the daunting S word.
Issue 3 | Nutrition of Everything | 19