Population growth will outstrip demand for an equable supply of food for all as the limit of arable land is reached. With people in hunger and death from malnutrition, the present food system does not reach all. The answer is not simply a better supply of the present system as it is questionable if the present system is fit for purpose. Mental ill-health and related brain disorder is now the leading burden of ill health. The paradigm governing food and agricultural policies has been dominated by the requirement for protein and calories for body growth. Although it was the evolution of the large brain which made us different from other animals no government has prioritized the nutritional needs of the brain which is largely made of specialized fats.
As an example of the misleading focus on protein, human milk has the least protein content of all large mammals. It is, however, rich in the essential fats needed to finalize brain development and growth.
The brain evolved in the sea 500 million years ago using marine nutrients, particularly docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) employed for its signaling systems and is still used and required today. There is robust evidence for the essentiality of DHA for brain growth and health. Naturally rich in the marine food web, there is little of it in the land-based, intensive food production system.
The falloff in fisheries and seafood intake is behind the escalation of mental ill-health and declining intelligence which if allowed to continue will be the greatest threat to the sustainability of humanity.
The marine food web is both rich in DHA and vital trace elements including iodine, the deficiency of which induces mental retardation. Currently, about 2 million are at risk to iodine deficiency disease.
Identified by the Declarations of Muscat, Oman in 2008 and Yoesu, Korea in 2012, there is a need to “save the oceans” by reversing the pollution of the rivers, lakes, estuaries, and oceans, restoring the man-made marine deserts, and developing mariculture starting around clean coastlines.
Mariculture not only provides brain-specific nutrients to stop the escalation of mental ill-health but also helps address ocean acidification and CO2-driven climate change by marine photosynthesis. We cannot grow any more rain forests but can do so with kelp forests which also provide food and fertilizer.
Precedence for this type of development is demonstrated by the Shiraishijima Island’s Marine Ranching Project in Okayama, Japan, which was started in 1991, has tripled fish production, added varieties of shellfish in an ecologically, sustainable manner. There are increasingly a number of other similar developments. The brain-specific nutrients need to be brought into food policy with the means of provision, developed on a global scale. This would arrest the fall in IQ, escalating mental ill-health and provide for brighter and healthier children.
أستاذ دكتور MICHAEL CRWFORD