Wild Foods, Hunger and Nutrition -harnessing knowledge for sustainable food security

世界饥饿人口的数量仍然高得令人无法接受（IFPRI，2017）。尽管2017年全球健康指数（GHI）报告显示了长期的进展，但仍有数百万人遭受长期饥饿和严重的粮食危机。另有20亿人遭受“隐性饥饿”，食物消费量不符合推荐的营养需求（联合国，2014年）。这对健康产生了负面影响，包括儿童消瘦和发育不良以及微量营养素缺乏症，由于学习和工作能力下降，导致持续贫穷的恶性循环，但是，经济发展本身并不一定等同于改善国家营养和健康成果（全球健康倡议报告）。印度就是一个很好的例子，在过去的20年里经济快速增长，但它仍然在GHI的119个国家中排名第100位。在地方一级，与经济发展有关的进程可能在很大程度上威胁到土著人的饮食。在墨西哥移民到美国，那些与传统饮食有更好的健康结果比其他国家，而那些热量丰富，营养不良的饮食有一些最差的健康结果（Neuhouser等人2004）。需要有效的公共政策来支持粮食安全和积极的健康成果（DeWalt，1994），这些政策需要将联合收割机科学知识与传统的土著饮食选择知识相结合。最近的工作强调了以应对当地情况和需求的方式解决饥饿问题的重要性（Isaacs et al. 2016）。一个特别的焦点是使用“野生食物”来实现粮食安全和营养多样化，营养丰富的饮食（Vira等人，2015）。支持保护野生食物的使用以及基本知识，作为对营养不良的有效和适当的反应，同时确保谨慎使用自然资源，引起了人们的注意（高专办，2017年）。为记录传统野生食物知识，包括广泛整理食物成分数据，（Brand米勒等人，1993; Masson 1995），但关于这种饮食的营养和流行病学影响的数据很少。该项目将结合联合收割机的见解，从政治经济学，人文地理学，流行病学和公共卫生，以解决野生食品在粮食和营养安全的作用，并将解决以下问题：1。在特定地点，目前使用和了解野生食物系统的模式是什么;这些模式如何随着时间的推移而变化;以及解决粮食和营养安全问题的具体干预措施如何与当地社区和背景相结合，特别是在可持续收获和采集野生食物方面？2.根据现有资源（包括地理限制、基础设施/劳动力和知识/态度限制），替代营养战略和适合当地的粮食系统的可能性有多大？3.在可比较的社区中，食用野生食物的人和食用现代食物的人之间的短期健康结果（如身体成分、出生体重和妊娠并发症）比较如何？这项研究将有助于评估粮食安全战略在多大程度上可能产生积极的营养和健康结果，同时建立与野生食物有关的当地适当知识体系，为有效的干预措施提供信息。

The number of hungry people in the world remains unacceptably high (IFPRI, 2017). Although the 2017 Global Health Index (GHI) report shows long-term progress, millions still experience chronic hunger and acute food crises. A further 2 billion people suffer 'hidden hunger', where food consumption does not meet recommended nutrient requirements (UN, 2014). This has negative implications on health, including child wasting and stunting and micro-nutrient deficiency diseases, which result in a vicious cycle of sustained poverty due to a reduction in ability to learn and work.However, economic development alone does not necessarily equate to improved national nutritional and health outcomes (GHI report). India is a prime example, with rapid economic growth over two decades, yet it still ranks 100th out of 119 countries in the GHI. At a local level, processes associated with economic development can threaten largely indigenous diets. Among Mexican immigrants to the US, those with traditional diets have better health outcomes than the rest of the nation, while those with calorie-rich, nutrient-poor diets have some of the worst health outcomes (Neuhouser et al. 2004). Effective public policies are needed to support food security and positive health outcomes (DeWalt, 1994), and these need to combine scientific knowledge with traditional indigenous knowledge about dietary choices.Recent work has highlighted the importance of addressing hunger in ways that respond to local contexts and needs (Isaacs et al. 2016). One particular focus is the use of 'wild foods' in achieving food security and nutritionally-diverse, nutrient-rich diets (Vira et al. 2015). Supporting the conservation of wild food use, as well as the underlying knowledge, has attracted attention as an effective and contextually appropriate response to malnutrition, while ensuring prudent use of natural resources (HLPE, 2017).Significant efforts have been made to document traditional wild food knowledge, including widespread collation of food composition data (Brand Miller et al. 1993; Masson 1995), but data are scarce on the nutritional and epidemiological effects of such diets. This project will combine insights from political economy, human geography, epidemiology, and public health to address the role of wild foods in relation to food and nutrition security, and will address the following:1. What are the patterns of current use and knowledge of wild food systems in specific locations; how have these changed over time; and how have specific interventions to address food and nutrition security engaged with local communities and contexts, especially in relation to the sustainable harvesting and gathering of wild foods? 2. What are the possibilities of alternative nutritional strategies and locally appropriate food systems, based on available resources (including geographical constraints, infrastructural/labour and knowledge/attitudinal constraints)?3. What are the comparative short-term health outcomes (such as body composition, birth weight and pregnancy complications) between those consuming wild foods and those consuming modern foods in comparable communities? This research will help assess the extent to which food security strategies might yield positive nutrition and health outcomes, while building on locally appropriate knowledge systems in relation to wild foods to inform effective interventions.