Will fish be part of future healthy and sustainable diets?

First paragraph: The adoption of healthy and sustainable diets and food systems is recognised as a means to address the global challenge of malnutrition and poor-quality diets, and unprecedented environmental damage from food production and consumption.1 Sustainable diets have also been recognised as a key strategy to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Reducing consumption of animal-source foods is frequently presented as key to improving the sustainability of food systems.2 Fish and seafood can have a lower environmental impact and in many cases are considered more efficient than terrestrial animal production (albeit with wide variation) depending on the type of production or capture method,3 yet remain largely absent, or insufficiently articulated in the sustainable diets literature, rendering their future role in healthy diets unclear.4 This absence of specific consideration of fish and seafood extends to food security literature, in which the role of fish remains under-recognised and undervalued.5 Legitimate concerns exist regarding the environmental sustainability of fisheries and aquaculture systems; however, we argue that an overemphasis on the so-called doomsday portrayal of fish—which often dominates literature and the broader media—masks the myriad of positive contributions of the fisheries sector to nutrition and sustainability and limits its scope in contributing to healthy and sustainable food systems

Estimates of average energy requirements in Bangladesh: Adult Male Equivalent values for use in analyzing household consumption and expenditure surveys.

This dataset contains Adult Male Equivalent (AME) values for use in Bangladesh. These were constructed using prescriptive nutritional constructs adapted to the actual growth and weight pattern seen in Bangladesh. This dataset provides a common base to facilitate for future work with household consumption and expenditure data in Bangladesh while updating the average energy requirements for infants and young children for the WHO 2006 growth standards and 2007 growth reference curves

Nutrient composition of important fish species in Bangladesh and potential contribution to recommended nutrient intakes

Fish, in Bangladesh where malnutrition remains a significant development challenge, is an irreplaceable animal-source food in the diet of millions. However, existing data on the nutrient composition of fish do not reflect the large diversity available and have focused on only a few select nutrients. The purpose of this study was to fill the gaps in existing data on the nutrient profiles of common fish in Bangladesh by analysing the proximate, vitamin, mineral and fatty acid composition of 55 fish, shrimp and prawn species from inland capture, aquaculture and marine capture fisheries. When comparing species, the composition of nutrients of public health significance was diverse. Iron ranged from 0.34 to 19. mg/100. g, zinc from 0.6 to 4.7. mg/100. g, calcium from 8.6 to 1900. mg/100. g, vitamin A from 0 to 2503. μg/100. g and vitamin B12 from 0.50 to 14. μg/100. g. Several species were rich in essential fatty acids, particularly docosohexaenoic acid in capture fisheries species (86-310. mg/100. g). The potential contribution of each species to recommended nutrient intakes (RNIs) for pregnant and lactating women (PLW) and infants was calculated. Seven species for PLW and six species for infants, all from inland capture, and all typically consumed whole with head and bones, could potentially contribute ≥25% of RNIs for three or more of these nutrients, simultaneously, from a standard portion. This illustrates the diversity in nutrient content of fish species and in particular the rich nutrient composition of small indigenous species, which should guide policy and programmes to improve food and nutrition security in Bangladesh

Articulating the effect of food systems innovation on the Sustainable Development Goals

Food system innovations will be instrumental to achieving multiple Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, major innovation breakthroughs can trigger profound and disruptive changes, leading to simultaneous and interlinked reconfigurations of multiple parts of the global food system. The emergence of new technologies or social solutions, therefore, have very different impact profiles, with favourable consequences for some SDGs and unintended adverse side-effects for others. Stand-alone innovations seldom achieve positive outcomes over multiple sustainability dimensions. Instead, they should be embedded as part of systemic changes that facilitate the implementation of the SDGs. Emerging trade-offs need to be intentionally addressed to achieve true sustainability, particularly those involving social aspects like inequality in its many forms, social justice, and strong institutions, which remain challenging. Trade-offs with undesirable consequences are manageable through the development of well planned transition pathways, careful monitoring of key indicators, and through the implementation of transparent science targets at the local level

Articulating the effect of food systems innovation on the Sustainable Development Goals

Food system innovations will be instrumental to achieving multiple Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, major innovation breakthroughs can trigger profound and disruptive changes, leading to simultaneous and interlinked reconfigurations of multiple parts of the global food system. The emergence of new technologies or social solutions, therefore, have very different impact profiles, with favourable consequences for some SDGs and unintended adverse side-effects for others. Stand-alone innovations seldom achieve positive outcomes over multiple sustainability dimensions. Instead, they should be embedded as part of systemic changes that facilitate the implementation of the SDGs. Emerging trade-offs need to be intentionally addressed to achieve true sustainability, particularly those involving social aspects like inequality in its many forms, social justice, and strong institutions, which remain challenging. Trade-offs with undesirable consequences are manageable through the development of well planned transition pathways, careful monitoring of key indicators, and through the implementation of transparent science targets at the local level

Articulating the effect of food systems innovation on the Sustainable Development Goals

Acknowledgments MH, DM-D, JP, JRB, AH, GDB, CMG, CLM, and KR acknowledge funding from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation. PKT, BMC, AJ, and AML acknowledge funding from the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security, which is supported by the CGIAR Trust Fund and through bilateral funding agreements. PP acknowledges funding from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research for the BIOCLIMAPATHS project.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Seafood in Food Security: a call for bridging the terrestrial-aquatic divide

The contribution of seafood to global food security is being increasingly highlighted in policy. However, the extent to which such claims are supported in the current food security literature is unclear. This review assesses the extent to which seafood is represented in the recent food security literature, both individually and from a food systems perspective, in combination with terrestrially-based production systems. The results demonstrate that seafood remains under-researched compared to the role of terrestrial animal and plant production in food security. Furthermore, seafood and terrestrial production remain siloed, with very few papers addressing the combined contribution or relations between terrestrial and aquatic systems. We conclude that far more attention is needed to the specific and relative role of seafood in global food security and call for the integration of seafood in a wider interdisciplinary approach to global food system research

Seafood in Food Security: A Call for Bridging the Terrestrial-Aquatic Divide

The contribution of seafood to global food security is being increasingly highlighted in policy. However, the extent to which such claims are supported in the current food security literature is unclear. This review assesses the extent to which seafood is represented in the recent food security literature, both individually and from a food systems perspective, in combination with terrestrially-based production systems. The results demonstrate that seafood remains under-researched compared to the role of terrestrial animal and plant production in food security. Furthermore, seafood and terrestrial production remain siloed, with very few papers addressing the combined contribution or relations between terrestrial and aquatic systems. We conclude that far more attention is needed to the specific and relative role of seafood in global food security and call for the integration of seafood in a wider interdisciplinary approach to global food system research