Our Food Choices Flashcards
According to UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization, nearly ____ out of 7.1 billion are chronically undernourished in 2010-2012.
870 million (1:8 ratio)
Children who are under nourished suffer how many days of illness per year?
160 days (children are the most visible victims of under-nutrition)
Who wrote about Nigeria’s population being called “food insecure” in the Washington Post?
David Hecht
According to UNICEF, ___ of Nigeria’s population are what humanitarian organizations call “food insecure”.
65% (91 million people)
Food insecurity in Nigeria.
90% of the country’s agricultural output comes from inefficient small farms, while most farmers have little or no access to fertilizers, irrigation, or other modern outputs. Most do not even grow enough food to feed their own families.
What are some innovations in agriculture?
- composting
- no-till farming
- vertical farming
- keyhole gardening
compost
organic matter that has been decomposed and recycled as a fertilizer and soil amendment
no-till farming
a way of growing crops or pasture from year to year without disturbing the soil through tillage (digging, plowinging, etc)
Benefits: increases the amount of water that infiltrates into the soil; increases organic matter retention and cycling of nutrients in the soil.
vertical farming
cultivating plant life within a skyscraper greenhouse or on vertically inclined surfaces
Benefits: avoids drought-and-disease-prone fields, no herbicides or insecticides.
keyhole gardening
raised garden with a recycling center and compost maker.
Benefit: hold moisture and nutrients due to an active compost pile placed in the center of a round bed.
What are some chemicals that cause harm through interactions in our bodies metabolic pathways in various side effects and allergic reactions?
mutagens, carcinogens, tertogens, hormones, neurotoxins, neuroexcitor, PCBs, DDT (insecticide), herbicides;
(effects on immune, nervous, endocrine systems)
an agent, such as radiation or a chemical substance, that causes genetic mutation (cyanide, CO)
mutagens
____ are capable of causing cancer
carcinogens
____ can cause malformation of an embryo or birth defects, such as alcohol, warfarin (blood thinning medication)
teratogens
____ is a poison that acts on the nervous system.
neurotoxin
