German sustainable diets

Government-led thinking about sustainable diets: German Council for Sustainable Development has produced its 3rd version of its Sustainable Shopping Basket now in English. The Sustainable Development Commission here in the UK will be publishing its paper next month. The Swedish's National Food Administration and Environmental Protection Agency submitted its own document to the European Commission in May 2009.

Please find the shopping guide for a simply better life on the website of the German Council for Sustainable Development. The 70 page brochure (pdf, 3739 KB) is available for download there: http://www.nachhaltigkeitsrat.de/en/projects/projects-of-the-council/nachhaltiger-warenkorb/?size=ccxumfua&blstr=0

Feel free to distribute it, make it known in your networks, adapt it or use its content. If you have questions regarding the background on the project, you will find some information on the overview online.

ENDS lecture 10 Nov. 2009 in London: "Economics for a finite planet"

Upcoming ENDS Report's special lecture

WHO: Professor Tim Jackson of the Centre for Environmental Strategy, University of Surrey, and a Commissioner at the government’s Sustainable Development Commission.

When : Tuesday 10th November, 5.00pm - 7.00pm, following the last day of Environmental Futures 09, the Environment Agency's annual conference.

Where: QEII Conference Centre, the Fleming Room, Westminster, London SW1P 3EE

What : He will give his account of how economics must address the crisis of sustainability, by de-coupling the notion of prosperity from the pursuit of growth.

FREE: You are welcome to attend FREE of charge, but places are limited and admission will be by ticket only. Click on the link below for further details.

http://www.endsreport.com/lecture/

Planet Nutrigenomics - in or out of our atmosphere? (INTRO)

I have been following the Nutrigenomics (Ngx) debate for the last 4 to 5 years. I wrote a few pieces on this blog already. A few weeks ago, I was invited (thanks Neil) to talk about my experience to a group of bemused food scientists at The Campden Chilled & Frozen Food Panel (most likely because they were falling asleep after lunch rather than because of the exciting content of my presentation, I guess). However, as I think that some of you at least might find it interesting, I will post a shorter version of my presentation on this blog over the next few weeks. Here I start with the introduction. I won’t be putting all the materials up (graphs etc.) So if you are interested, please write me a quick email and I’ll send you further info.

INTRO

You are surely all aware of the European process of nutrition and health claims validation standard that has been going on for the last 3 years now. 80 % of the 70-odd claims processed so far by the EFSA have been rejected for failing to meet its scientific criteria. EFSA favours human intervention trials over kinds of evidence such as epidemiological studies. With 4000 health claims to receive an opinion by EFSA by next year, a lot of them could go straight in the bin (See timeline from NutraIngredients.com[1]).

Ngx research has been tipped by some as being able to potentially offer the scientific basis required to meet the tough claims validation standards. I’ve been told that human genomics and genetics are beginning to reveal how diet and health are linked not only through the physiological activity of nutrients, but that nutrients are involved in the cascade of events beginning with gene regulation and expression.

The practical applications of Ngx, I hear, aim at generating a system capable of capturing biological complexity and narrowing it down to patient-specific needs. Ngx itself, I read, aims at showing how nutrition can replace drugs as potential therapeutics, or play a role in reducing a person's susceptibility to disease.

Although the articles praising these advances seem pretty convincing and drugs/food companies are investing big money in it, there are still limited sounds commercial[2] or public health applications out there. The term Ngx was only coined in 2001 to target especially gene-nutrient interactions in human rather than animals. The number of scientific articles mentioning Ngx has been multiplying exponentially since 2001[3]. But a couple of recent research 2008[4] looking at the state of research by reviewing scientific publications show that the number of human clinical trials[5] and patents[6] issued in comparison is still minute.
When I first started looking at Ngx R&D, around 4 years ago, I was fascinated by the promises of technology. But who won’t? Since Ngx appeared in the media in 2004, it has been framed both by journalists and scientists in the rhetoric of progress with prospect of cures for devastating and common diseases, such as cancer and heart disease.

At a Ngx conference held in Paris last year titled “Bridging science to concrete consumer health benefits” representatives from NuGo told us that work is progressing at laboratories around the world but that “there are still a lot of unknowns”. While personalized food tailored for people’s genotypes is still thought to be 10 to 15 years away from the market[7], both the private and the public sectors are making significant research investments.

On the private side: The US branch of Nestle for instance already uses Ngx for canine food and is investing into sport nutrition and healthy ageing product. BASF bought up skin care lab using Ngx. Chr Hansen set aside €30m ($42m) of its 2007/08 budget to develop R&D in the area to improve probiotic food products.

On the public side: Technology transfer of bench science to publicly accessible applications is a high priority for universities and their funders who coordinate with private sector companies and investors to bring new Ngx products and services to market. Around €44m over 5 years were spent by DG Research on large scale Ngx projects (including on the NuGo network). Only a minute proportion of public money in EU/US spent on Ngx went to the ELSA (Econ, socio-legal aspects of the research developments). This said, evaluating the ELSA research of applications that are not there yet, is an extremely if not impossible task.

The cornerstone of Ngx research like any other genetic research is based on three things:

1. Costly tools: High-throughput molecular biology (e.g. mass spectroscopy) used to analyze nutrient–gene interactions. Individualistic approach, based on small group of people rather than population approach, still need huge cluster of genetic info to be reliable (currently study of less than 5,000 people while it would need 100,000 people study)
2. Human samples: Such research also needs to collect samples from people with the relevant susceptibility to process. That kind of collection is done by government sponsored research then sometimes used by companies to developed product for high end market.
3. Patents: “New being issued, or existing patents being licensed for use in Ngx applications. Since many companies involved in translating Ngx research into applications are mainly privately-held and small-to-medium enterprises, they do not have large patent portfolios. Consequently, whatever IP rights they hold tend to be foundational to the overall corporate plan, and hence represent the most important intangible assets giving firm equity” [8]. Three kinds of patent activity are cornerstones in the business plans of companies already offering products based on Ngx knowledge. This is a very important point to which I will come back later.

As David Castle says in his recent article[9] on the subject: “Translation of research that has its origins in public investments via private companies does raise questions about the impact of commercial interests on access to potentially valuable biotechnologies.”
Ngx, like genetic engineering before, raises many hopes and expectations on the score that it may actually improve global health. However, it remains unclear whether Ngx will actually benefit[10]. Different forces drive the choice of research priorities and shape the claims that are made when communicating the goals or the results of Ngx research. I am interested in these disparate but very powerful forces at play here unfolding currently under our very eyes.

Several models of Ngx translation into public health and into commercial applications are emerging. Each has its own very unique attributes. Which one/combination of/ or emerging new one will prevail will depend on the overall dynamic process powered by these forces.

QUESTIONS: WHAT? - WHO? - FOR WHAT PURPOSE?
The questions I try to answer are apparently simple: What is Ngx? Who is doing Ngx research? and for what purpose?

[1] http://www.nutraingredients.com/Regulation/Timeline-of-key-EU-health-claim-opinions
[2] C. J.W. Janssens, M.Gwinn, L.A. Bradley, B.A. O. C.M. van Duijn, and M. J. Khoury A Critical Appraisal of the Scientific Basis Of Commercial Genomic Profiles Used to Assess Health Risks and Personalize Health Interventions Am Hum Genet. 2008 March 3; 82(3): 593–599. Accessed 18.09.09 from http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=2427295
Extract: “...“Insufficient scientific evidence to conclude that genomic profiles are useful in measuring genetic risk for common diseases or in developing personalized diet and lifestyle recommendations for disease prevention.”
[3] [ graph showing the rapid growth of publication after naming of the nascent discipline in 1999 and escalating pace after 2005 (See Rens L.J Vandeberg and Wouter PC Boon, forthcoming) Anticipating emerging genomics technologies) which provide a biometric discourse analysis based on article/patents production between 1993 and 2007 on nutrigenomics and pharmacogenomics.]
[4]Nutrigenomics, mass media and commercialization pressures Health Law Review, June 2008 by Tania Bubela, Benjamin Taylor
[5] Nutrigenomics, mass media and commercialization pressures Health Law Review, June 2008 by Tania Bubela, Benjamin Taylor . Extract: “...However, there were few clinical trials, only a small percentage of gene association studies and only 17.8% of research published related to human subjects. The majority of research could be defined as early stage research focused on human cell lines, including tumour cells (29.5%), and rodents (37.3%)...”
[6] L. Deffenbaugh &N. Bangel (2008) Ngx for Personalized Nutrition By assessing emerging technologies, food companies can create products that tap into a potentially lucrative market , Nerac Analysis. Accessed Sep. 2009: http://www.nerac.com/admin/uploads/44285751048dbe96e736d2.pdf
[7] After the early clumsy attempts from companies to convert some of Ngx’s early outputs into marketable products, industry has been driven by political calls (GAO US, EU health claims regulations, etc) and market incentives (healthier trends) towards commercial ‘product’ with clearer benefits. Some of these products are already there and that they are sometimes called Phenotypic products. Other products sometimes called Genotypic products are following, starting with “medical groups” (e.g.diabetic) and formalising the existing phenotypic products. These two different types of products are considered by some as embodying two different nutrigenomics models.
[8] Castle,D. (2008) Intellectual property and nutrigenomics, Health Law review, Jun.22, 4808. Free library accessed 08.07.09 from http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Intellectual+property+and+nutrigenomics.-a0178220365
[9] Castle,D. (2008) Intellectual property and nutrigenomics, Health Law review, Jun.22, 4808. Free library accessed 08.07.09 from http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Intellectual+property+and+nutrigenomics.-a0178220365
[10] GODARD, B. & HURLIMANN, T. (2009) Nutrigenomics for Global Health: Ethical Challenges for Underserved Populations. Current Pharmacogenomics and Personalized Medicine (Formerly Current Pharmacog, 7, 205-214.

Sustainable Eating workshop - Manchester, 6 Oct.09

Sustainable Eating: explorations in new modes of food consumption : a workshop at the University of Manchester, Tuesday October 6th, 13.30-17.30.

Projections of the current trends in climate change and environmental degradation imply that unless patterns of consumption in the West change radically in the next decade the consequences will be devastating. Food is one of the major domains generating harmful environmental effects. This workshop will focus on how consumption, rather than agricultural production or food distribution, might become more sustainable. It will explore ways in which current habits, routines and tastes might be changed to ameliorate the situation. Based on social scientific understandings of how eating is socially organized – with reference to time use, meal patterns, culinary traditions, regulation, etc. – the potentiality of new patterns will be
explored.

• Professor Tim Lang: Challenges for Sustainable Eating. This presentation will discuss critical issues about contemporary food consumption and its consequences for environmental sustainability. Tim Lang has been Professor of Food Policy at City University since November 2002. In 2006, he was appointed Natural Resources and Land Use Commissioner on the UK Government’s Sustainable Development Commission. He is a regular advisor to the World Health Organisation at global and European levels. In 1999-2005 he was Chair of Sustain, the NGO alliance, of which he was a founder member. He has been a Trustee of Friends of the Earth and Secretary of the Public Health Alliance.

• Dr Unni Kjaernes: Eating Meat in the Future? Exploring Neoliberal and Welfare State Answers Starting out by problematising environmental consequences of current meat consumption trends, this presentation will outline different regulatory approaches to modify meat eating, and then discuss some dilemmas involved - for the environment and for people as consumers.Unni Kjaernes is Head of Research at The National Institute of Consumer Research (SIFO) in Oslo, Norway. Her recent work has concentrated on comparative studies of various areas of food regulation, consumer responses and responsibilities, and trust.

• There will also be presentations from:Professor Jukka Gronow, Uppsala University, Dr Johanna Mäkelä, National Consumer Research Centre, Finland, Professor Elizabeth Shove, Lancaster University, Dr Dale Southerton, University of Manchester, Professor Alan Warde, University of Manchester

Notes: The workshop is intended for researchers, postgraduate students, practitioners and policy makers with an interest in the relevance of consumer behaviour and food consumption for a sustainable future.

There is no charge for the event, but please let Josephine.Mylan@postgrad.manchester.ac.uk know that you will be attending. Jo will also provide further information if required.

Talk: Ethnobotanist Nancy Turner, 20 Oct. 2009, London Kew Gardens

TALK: Bringing the food back home: indigenous foodways, nutrition and biodiversity in western Canada Distinguished Ethnobotanist Lecture 2009 Nancy J. Turner, University of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada Jodrell Lecture Theatre, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (UK). Tuesday 20 October 2009, 17.00
SPEAKER:Nancy Turner is one of the most influential (and charismatic) ethnobotanists working today. She is best known for her collaborations wth First Nations peoples of western Canada, and has published extensively on wild foods and nutrition, materials, and many other aspects of plant use. This is a rare opportunity to hear her speak at a European venue.
SUMMARY: “Indigenous peoples of northwestern North America are identified by anthropologists mainly as fishers and hunters. Yet, their traditional food systems include many, diverse plant species, as well as some marine algae, lichens and fungi. Plant foods include roots and other underground parts, green leaves and stems, many fruits, inner bark of trees, and a range of beverage teas. These foods collectively provide essential nutrients and have been part of a healthy Indigenous diet over thousands of years. The knowledge required to use these nutritional resources effectively and sustainably is part of an overall system of knowledge that incorporates ecological understanding, taxonomic, and biogeographical expertise, specialized practices of harvesting, processing, and maintaining resource populations, and belief systems that guide their use and management. Women have been the holders and practitioners of much of this plant-based knowledge.
In recent years, for a variety of reasons, many of these important Indigenous foods have been declining in use, a dietary trend known as the 'nutrition transition', that is occurring with local and Indigenous Peoples' food systems worldwide. People who once gathered and prepared healthy local food are turning towards more processed and marketed foods many of which are high in unhealthy fats and refined carbohydrates. The result is increased risk of diabetes and heart disease and other health problems. Today, Indigenous communities are using a range of strategies to maintain and strengthen their use of their original foods, and have found partners in universities, NGOs, and government agencies to support this endeavor.
In this presentation, I will describe some of the diverse Indigenous 'wild' foods of the Cascadia Region, and discuss the ways in which Indigenous Peoples have maintained and enhanced these resources, what has happened to these food species, and how they are now being reclaimed and re-incorporated into Indigenous Peoples' foodways.”
FREE: Admission is free but must be prebooked at:http://www.eventbee.com//event?eid=62117 or by emailing the organiser. Queries: erin@globaldiversity.org.uk
ACCESS: The Jodrell Laboratory is accessed via the Jodrell Gate on Kew Road, more or less halfway between the Main Gate (Kew Green) and the Victoria Gate. The Jodrell Gate is 10 minutes walk from Kew Gardens and Kew Bridge stations. Please be sure to arrive in good time - any seats unoccupied at 16.50 may be redistributed to the wait list. After the talk, audience members are welcome to join the speaker in "The Botanist" pub on Kew Green.
This talk is sponsored by the Global Diversity Foundation, the Centre for Biocultural Diversity at the University of Kent and the Sustainable Uses Group at the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew.

GSK petition on weight loss claims and new safety reports on Alli

Kimberly Lord Stewart wrote in her article GlaxoSmith’s Weight-Loss Pills Get a Troubling Report from FDA of August 25, 2009:
“According to the Associated Press, the Food and Drug Administration is investigating reports of liver damage in patients taking alli, the only nonprescription weight loss drug approved by the agency and Xenical, the prescription version of the drug. It is not known yet whether this will have any bearing on GlaxoSmith’s petition to FDA requesting that all to weight loss dietary supplements be classified as drugs that was submitted last spring for consideration.
..... Since FDA approved Xenical in 1999 and alli in 2007, the dietary supplement company has pondered as a whole whether companies like GlaxoSmithKline win their petition for all weight loss dietary supplement products to be classified as drugs. The Natural Products Association responded in May 2009 by saying the move was “nothing more than an attempt by the makers of alli™, the first over-the-counter weight loss drug, to quash competition from the supplement weight loss industry.” The concern was that GlaxoSmith’s bountiful recourses for legal and political wrangling would outnumber the supplements industry. Time will tell whether the report shaves away their resolve and their resources. Shares of London-based Glaxo fell 59 cents Monday to close at $39.44”
For background on the GSK petition: See my blog of Sunday, 10 August 2008

Nutrition policy across the UK - by M. Caraher

The information presented at the Caroline Walker Trust conference last year (2008) by Dr Martin Caraher, Reader in Nutrition and Health Policy at City University London, is now available to view on the website.

The report looks at current food policy in each of the four administrative areas of the UK: England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. In order to illustrate differences, and similarities, in policy, it focussed on four topics: the issue of food inequalities, and the public health nutrition policy areas of infant feeding, school food, and childhood obesity.

A extremely interesting read by an amazing man!

A free pdf download is available at
http://www.cwt.org.uk/publications.html#ukpolicy