Adolescent girls are already deficient in a range of essential micronutrients, said Professor Judy Buttriss. She argued that if they avoided certain foodstuffs such as meat and dairy for sustainability reasons, this could make the situation worse.
Buttriss made her remarks as she presented a keynote address at the Institute of Food Science & Technology’s spring conference last week.
According to the National Diet and Nutrition Survey (NDNS), girls aged between 11 and 18 are deficient in micronutrients such as Riboflavin (vitamin B2), iron, copper, calcium, magnesium, potassium, zinc, selenium and iodine – all essential for healthy growth, she said.
Micronutrient deficiencies
“There is a huge amount of room for improvement,” said Buttriss. “We’ve got a number of problems with some of the micronutrients in the UK diet.” The NDNS results prove that although some sections of the population are taking vitamin and mineral supplements, this is not having any impact on the national statistics, she added.
“We’ve got evidence of poor iron status in girls and women,” said Buttriss, who added that this increases their health risks during pregnancy. “We’ve got almost half of teenage girls not getting enough iron.”
She also expressed concern about the rise in cases of the bone softening disease rickets in children. Rickets is associated with deficiencies in vitamin D, magnesium, phosphorus and calcium.
Meat is an important source of iron and other essential micronutrients in the diet, while milk and milk products provide other essential nutrients, such iodine and calcium.
Sustainability versus health
The problem is the red meat and dairy sectors are also associated with high levels of greenhouse gas emission and environmentalists and the anti-meat lobby are putting pressure on consumers to reduce their consumption of these foods.
“Meat and meat products across the population are providing a third of our vitamins – quite a substantial contribution to nutrient intakes. Similarly for fish and milk and milk products,” said Buttriss.
She added: “If we are going to make decisions about how we might change our diet or the global diet going forward from a sustainability perspective, these things are all in the spotlight.
“We may well have to change our global diets to make sure we save the planet, but in doing that we need to understand the implications of those changes.”