THE LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS® of the Fairfax Area WANDA WASTEWATCHER REVISITED

Food for Thought, Part 1

by Judy Prochko, E.Q. Committee

In September 1994, the U.N. sponsored a conference on Population and Development. During the nine days of the conference alone, the earth's population grew by 2.2 million. Any discussion about population control will undoubtedly spark heated debate, but it is a timely subject. Population growth combined with increased resource consumption and poverty is driving the global economy and putting pressure on the carrying capacity of the earth.

Food and water are the most important of human needs. To better understand human consumption patterns, let's place the global diet on a ladder with three rungs. At the bottom, the world's poorest billion people do not have adequate food. Their diet consists of grains such as rice and corn and root crops like potatoes and cassava, and their water is often contaminated. In their quest for animal fodder and cooking fuel, they denude the land, leaving it vulnerable to erosion and less able to support them. It is a vicious cycle. An inadequate diet results in stunted growth, mental retardation, and death.

The 3.3 billion so-called "middle-income" people eat a low-fat diet of grains and vegetables with very little meat, poultry or dairy products. They lack a variety of fruits and vegetables which would provide them with essential nutrients. Lack of refrigeration and other safe ways to store food make them vulnerable to food poisoning and intestinal parasites.

At the top of the global food ladder, the rest of us enjoy a fresh, sanitary food supply plus the nutritional benefits of a great diversity of food. However, Americans and other affluent people obtain 40 percent of their calories from fat. This has promoted a high incidence of heart disease, stroke, and cancers of the breast and colon.

The basic four food group wheel that was the basis for good nutrition for decades has been replaced by a pyramid that graphically presents the latest advice for healthy eating. The goal of the new guidelines is to reduce fat intake primarily by eating less meat and dairy products; i.e., eating lower on the food chain. Happily, this dovetails nicely with goals to improve the earth's ability to provide adequate food for everyone.

In order to produce a pound of protein, a steer must consume 21 pounds of protein. Wow! Sounds like meat is an inefficient way for us to obtain nutrition.

Prodded by health concerns, many of us are eating more poultry than beef. It takes 40 percent less feed to produce a unit of poultry compared to beef, so this is certainly a step in the right direction. Still, we will have to cut more meat from our diet in order to bring ourselves into sync with the earth's ability to provide for a growing population. Nutritionists at Johns Hopkins tell me that a serving of meat should be no larger than a deck of cards. This is a good rule of thumb. The Chinese have traditionally served rice as the main course, adding vegetables and a little meat as flavoring. This habit is reflected in a low incidence of heart disease. Using meat, poultry, and fish as a condiment instead of the centerpiece of our meals will go a long way toward improving our health as well as allowing the planet to provide a sustainable food supply for everyone.

ECOWISDOM: There are mountains in Attica which can now keep nothing but bees, but which were clothed, not so very long ago, with fine trees producing timber suitable for roofing the largest buildings...while the country produced boundless pasture for cattle. The annual supply of rainfall was not lost, as it is at present, through being allowed to flow over a denuded surface to the sea, but was received by the country, in all its abundance, into her bosom where she stored it. Plato