Millions more people will likely suffer a nutrient deficiency by 2050 — and you can blame our carbon emissions

| July 15, 2015 | Leave a Comment

Item Link: Access the Resource

Date of Publication: July 15, 2015

Year of Publication: 2015

Publication City: Washington, DC

Publisher: The Washington Post

Author(s): Chelsea Harvey

Newspaper: The Washington Post

Chelsea Harvey reports on the recent study published in The Lancet that found increasing amounts of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere lowers the zinc content of certain major food crops, and therefore increases the risk of zinc deficiency.

The study predicts that by the year 2050, when the carbon dioxide concentration in the Earth’s atmosphere is expected to reach 550 parts per million, at least 138 million more people will be placed at risk of zinc deficiency.

This increased risk of zinc deficiency will fall disproportionately on populations in Africa and parts of Asia, with 48 million of the newly at-risk people being located in India alone.

As an important nutrient for proper immune function, someone with a zinc deficiency has a greater likelihood of suffering more serious outcomes, including death, from common diseases like diarrhea and pneumonia.

This study, led by Samuel Myers, joins other research findings on the effects carbon dioxide can have on the iron and protein content of some plants to paint a dire, and largely unanticipated, picture of another way human activities can affect our own survival.

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