Saving rare vegetable varieties could help fix bad diets
van Zonneveld M, Khoury CK, Herforth A, Vogliano C, Fowler C
Seed Saving
That heirloom tomato or unusual squash variety you grow in your backyard is part of a shrinking pool of genetic diversity that plant breeders need to create vegetables suited to a hotter, harder climate.
Grocery stores mostly sell the same handful of vegetable varieties, but there used to be way more options: local heirloom types and their wild cousins growing in gardens and wild lands around the world. That diversity is vanishing due to farming shifts and market pressure, and losing it means losing the raw genetic material breeders need to make vegetables more nutritious and climate-tough. Researchers propose collecting and protecting these plants, breeding new varieties from them, and getting them into school lunches and home meals, especially in places where malnutrition is worst.
Key Findings
Vegetables span a wider phylogenetic range than any other plant-derived food group, giving more options for varied climates and cultures
Four action areas proposed: securing biodiversity via collection/conservation, breeding new varieties, promoting diverse vegetables in diets (especially for children), and integrating diversity into policy
Vegetable biodiversity loss driven by market homogenization and land-use change is directly linked to insufficient vegetable intake and malnutrition worldwide
chevron_right Technical Summary
Vegetable diversity, including old local varieties and wild relatives, is disappearing just when the world needs it most to fight poor diets. Scientists lay out a four-part plan to save that diversity and use it to get more, better vegetables onto plates worldwide.
Abstract Preview
Original paper
Reversing vegetable biodiversity loss to diversify diets.
Vegetables are a critical component of diets, with inadequate intake of this essential food group leading to poor dietary quality and malnutrition. Food system assessments identify insufficient pro...
open_in_new Read full abstractAbstract copyright held by the original publisher.
Species Mentioned
Was this useful?
Want to tell us more? (optional)
Thanks for the note!
Something went wrong — please try again.
Too many submissions. Try again in an hour.
Gene editing removes 97% of celiac-triggering proteins from bread wheat
It could mean that people with celiac disease — roughly 1 in 100 worldwide — may one day safely eat bread made from real wheat, without sacrificing the taste...
Vegetables are edible parts of plants that are consumed by humans or other animals as food. This original meaning is still commonly used, and is applied to plants collectively to refer to all edible plant matter, including flowers, fruits, stems, leaves, roots, and seeds. An alternative definitio...