EE318 Exam 1 Terms

Hunger/Malnutrition

Chronic caloric intake deficit measured by Prevalence of Undernourshiment

Pro and Con of PoU

Pro: Longterm, country-wide, public data

Con: says nothing about nutrient quality, or who/when/why

Food Insecurity (FAO definition)

lacking regular access to enough safe, nutritious food for normal growth and an active, healthy life

How is Food Insecurity measured?

Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES): 8 question survey; moderate and sever elevels

Four Pillars of Food Security

Availability, Access, Stability, Utilization

Availability

is there enough food supply?

Access

Can people obtain it (economic, social, political barriers)

Stability

Is access consistent over time

Utilization

can the body use the food (cooking, health, sanitation)

Food Justice

asks how food insecurity came into being and is reproduced looking at a racial, class, gender, and ethnic structure of disparity.

Food Desert

>1mil from a supermarket in urban/suburban areas or >10miles from a supermarket in rural areas

Food Swamp

an overconcentration of fast food, convenience stores, and gas stations

Food Apartheid

a system of segregation dividing those with abundant nutritious food from those denied it by systemic injustice. Emphasizes structure over “naturally occurring” conditions

Calculability

turning a multifaceted phenomenon into a quantitative measure to be tracked, managed, governed, and naturalized.

Calorie

energy needed to raise 1kg of water by 1C

History of the Calorie

1982: French chemist defined it

1892: German physiologist builds animal respiration calorimeter

1896: Atwater puts students in a calorimeter

Impact of the Calorie

turned food into mathematical law, launched nutrition science, made whole populations legible, and let individuals internalize demands

BMI equation

Weight (kg)/Height²(m²)

BMI history

1985: NIH adpots it

1995; WHO sets flobal cutoffs

1998: NIH matches US threshold to WHO, making millions overweight overnight

Problems with BMI

poor predictor of individual health, body fat, and fat distribution; doctors may focus only on BMI; different populations may need different thresholds

Nutrition Transition

shift in diet as populations grow economically: more animal products, calores, sugar, fat and processed food; fewer plants and less activity

Pro and Con Nutrition Transition

Pro: Names a global trend

Con: makes it look inevitable and natural, ignoring structural and policy causes, erasing local food struggles, and blaming individuals

Hidden Hunger

Calorically adequate or abundant diet that lacks key nutrietns

Macronutrients

proteins, fats, carbohydrates

Micronutrietns

Vitamins and minerals

Double burden of malnutrition

Obesity and undernutrition coexist, typical in the middle of the transition in low and middle income countries

Communicable Disease

passed person to person; malnutrition raises risk; common in poor regions

Noncommunicable disease

chronic and slow but can be caused by malnutrition; common in affluent regions

5 Phases of nutrition transition

1. Hunter gatherer: lean, labor-intensive

2. Famine: cereals, deficiencies, short stature

3. Industrialization: starchy, low variety

4. NCDs: high fat, sugar processed food, less physical work, obesity

5. Behavioral change: less fat and sugar, more fruit and veg, purposful activity

Commodity Chain

interconnected processes and places through which raw materials are produced, transformed, distributed and sold to consumers

Externalities

uncompensated environmental or social impacts of commodity chain

Negative externality

market costs lower than environmental and social costs

Labor

human and non human work along the supply chain

Water Resources

Food systems depend on and also deplete and pollute water

Components of Water Resources

atmospheric moisture, soil moisture/infiltration, surface water, groundwater

Hydrological Cycle

Continuous movement of water on, above, and below Earth, driven by sun and gravity

Parts of Water Cycle

evaporation, precipitation, runoff, infiltraiton

Watershed

land area that sends all runoff to a single outlet

Water stress

Freshwater demand > supply

Dimensions of Water Stress

physical availability, economic/infastructural supply, pollution

Falkenmark index

renewable freshwater per person

Ground water percentage of Earths Freshwater

31%

Aquifer

where groundwater is stored (confined or unconfined)

Irrigation

supplying water to crops

Water Footprint

Total fresh water used to produce a good

Blue Water Footprint

from water bodies via infastructure

Green Water Footprint

from precipitation

Gray Water Footprint

Water needed to dilute pollution/waste

Limitation of Water Footprint

does not say where water is used, or whether that use is sustainable

Sustainability

meeting current human needs without compromising future generations’ ability to meet theirs

Climate Change

long-term shift in Earths average temperatures and weather patterns, driven by anthropogenic GHG emissions

Food Chain GHGs

CO2, CH4, N20, CFCs/HFCs

Where is Carbon Dioxide produced in Food Chain?

deforestation, peat drainage, machinery, vehicles, cold chains, transport, retail

Where is Methan produced in Food Chain?

ruminant livestock fermentation, flooded rice fields

Where is Nitrous Oxide produced in Food Chain?

synthetic fertilizer, manure

Where is Cloro/Hydro-fluoro Carbons produced in Food Chain?

refrigerants

Mitigation of climate change

Reduces GHGs

Adaptation to climate change

copes with a changing climate

Climate Resiliance

capacity to anticipate, prepare for, absorb, recover from, and adapt to climate shocks and stresses

Drought

prolonged water shortage

Terroir

“sense of place” taste from local soil, water, climate, and production practices

Narrow Terroir

physical attributes only

Broad Terroir

adds culture, history, tradition, and authenticity