Sustainability must meet supply and nutrient needs

Last week University of Hawaii President David Lassner signed an executive policy regarding sustainability. This student-initiated policy shows that sustainability is more than a fad and that the university has set a number of significant goals, including carbon neutrality by 2050 and a commitment to sustainability at all levels of operations and education.

This new UH policy will strive to integrate conservation of energy and natural resources at multiple levels to benefit families, culture, the community at large and the economy both now and in the future.

Question: How might this UH policy affect you?

Answer: With our next generation of leaders focused on the need to conserve resources, sustainability will become more of a lifestyle than just a topic of conversation.

Q: How does sustainability relate to nutrition and health?

A: Sustainability today, especially when it’s related to appropriate food production, is becoming more complex and significantly more challenging. Of course, our food supply must meet human nutrient needs. However, not only is the population increasing, but the average person in the population is growing larger in both height and weight.

Nutrient needs increase with body size, especially nutrients like protein. Adding to the complexity of the food sustainability issue is the fact that inactive lifestyles have reduced calorie needs. This means that we need to consume greater amounts of protein and other essential nutrients within fewer calories.

Focusing solely on environmental sustainability, without considering nutrition, might inadvertently create a quagmire that makes meeting human nutrient requirements to maintain a healthy population no longer viable. Innovation needs to start now with exploring how to avoid decision traps related to achieving both a sustainable environment and a healthy population.

Q: What is meant by decision traps?

A: Russo and Schoemaker wrote a great book called "Decision Traps." The lessons from this book clearly relate to sustainability and health when decision makers disregard the importance of meeting essential nutrient needs.

Q: What decision traps decrease the potential for success with relation to nutrition?

A: Relying inappropriately on rules of thumb or trusting the most available data has become extremely common with the use of the Internet and the ease of creating websites. Worldwide there is growing concern for global warming, population growth and producing food in a sustainable manner. However, the potential clash between long-term health and environmental sustainability is illustrated by the fact that lower-calorie, protein-rich foods come primarily from animal products that often are deemed to be environmentally unfriendly.

Our best suggestion is to not believe everything you read on sustainability or natural-food websites. Intensions are honorable, but they frequently overlook important facts related to public health. For example, a recent study found that increasing environmental carbon dioxide decreases the iron, zinc and protein content of common staple crops. Clearly, many variables like this must be considered to make sure we can meet nutrient needs within the context of sustainability decisions.

Q: What can we do?

A: Step back and analyze sustainability logically. Seek sustainability solutions that include consideration of nutrition and health.

Alan Titchenal, Ph.D., C.N.S., and Joannie Dobbs, Ph.D., C.N.S., are nutritionists in the Department of Human Nutrition, Food and Animal Sciences, College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, University of Hawaii-Manoa. Dobbs also works with University Health Services.