Climate Change Could Lead To Nutrient Deficiency For Hundreds of Millions (smithsonianmag.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Smithsonian: According to new research, rising carbon dioxide levels will sap some of the nutrients from our crops and lead to dietary deficiencies in millions of humans. In 2014, field trials of common food crops including wheat, rice, corn and soybeans showed that as the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere increased, the levels of iron, zinc and protein decreased in the dietary staples by 3 to 17 percent. While the decrease in a few nutrients may not seem important in food secure countries, it could have a big impact in poorer nations.

In the new study published in the journal Nature Climate Change, researchers calculated the impact of declining nutrients on human health. According to a press release, the team looked at the impact of rising CO2 on 225 different types of food. Based on population estimates for 2050 and an expected rise of carbon dioxide from about 400 parts per million today to 550 ppm by mid-century, the team found that the nutrient deficiencies of those already suffering will worsen, and 175 million more people could join the 1.2 billion who are zinc deficient and 122 million people would be added to the 622 million who don't receive enough protein. About 1.4 billion women of childbearing age and children under 5 could see their iron intake drop by about 4 percent.

Comments

Re: So sick of Chicken Little climate change stori

[GoTeam]

In your rush to be offended, you seem to have missed my point. You claim that rising CO2 and climate change are the exact same thing. There are plenty of other things that can lead to climate change. If you wanted to create an accurate headline, you could say "Rising CO2 Could Lead To Nutrient Deficiency For Hundreds of Millions". That would accurately describe the research. I would find that to be an interesting enough headline to read the story. Instead, they try to entice more readers by using a click-bait type headline. In no way am I trying to say this is a story that does not deserve to be read.

Utterly false fear-mongering

[SuperKendall]

A warmer climate means a MUCH wider farmable region of earth, with longer growing seasons in many northern climates.

You want proof? What has more vegetation, a jungle or Canada. You might say, but Canada is dryer (ha!), but that person would be forgetting what a warmer climate means in terms of increased evaporation across the entire surface of the ocean...

Anyone who claims that global warming leads to less food is absolutely lying and worst of all, KNOWS they are lying to try and scare you. What you should do is tar and feather an pillory them until they wind up living under a bridge, which is where troll belong.