Future Food and Health

Professor Peter Leedman

Food 2050 - The UWA Institute of Agriculture

2013 Industry Forum
 Globalization, Climate Change, and
Human Nutrition
• World’s population increase from 7 to 9.3 billion by 2050
• Pandemic of diabetes and obesity and associated non-
communicable diseases (heart attack, stroke) as daily
bodily energy balance shifted into surplus
• Loss of biodiversity, amplified global circulation of
bioactive nitrogen compounds, and climate change have
reached levels that are apparently unsafe
• Maintaining food supplies and adequate nutrition for the
increasing world population presents a major challenge
• Rising demand for animal foods among middle-income
populations
 Global food production

Solutions:
• More mixed cropping and inclusion of
acceptable genetically modified crops
• Curtail production of methane-producing
ruminants
• Smart farming with new technologies,
some involving molecular advances

Source: http://www.nejm.org/doi/pdf/10.1056/NEJMra1109341
 Alternative Protein Sources
• Meat production involves large Protein content of various foods
amounts of water, land, energy, 6.7% Fruit

and pollution, compared to plant

foods. Going veg. is the easiest
11% Nuts & Seeds

way to lessen your impact 13% Grains

22% Vegetables

• Sustainable farming of drought

28% Beans

tolerant grains may help

supplement a reduced ‘meat’
intake, especially in countries
where this form of protein is not
so readily available.

Source: http://michaelbluejay.com/veg/protein.html
• Food can switch on and off specific genes
• Hence the phrase “You are what eat!”
Nutrigenomics/Personalized Nutrition
• Application of the human genome, and other ‘Omics’
technologies to nutrition and personalized health to
provide individual dietary recommendations
• Recommendations based on age, sex, medical history,
other medications…..
• Microbiome – could provide an entirely new set of
treatment options
• Current advice: consume a wide variety of foods, fruits,
vegetables, whole grains etc….
• Future advice: personalized prescription of diet
Nutrigenomics
Nutrigenomics – Selecting the
Right Diet for the Right Group
 Top Ten Superfoods
Cleveland Clinic

• Still debate on a “superfood” but those packed with essential

vitamins, minerals, essential fatty acids and antioxidants
• Oatmeal
• Walnuts - chia
• Olive Oil - canola
• Wild salmon – herring/sardines
• Green Tea – black tea
• Barley – lentils
• Kale or collard - cabbage
• Broccoli - cauliflower
• Blueberries – blackberries/strawberries
• Tomatoes – watermelon
• Role for Lupins as a WA “superfood”?
 Lupin – Functional Food
and Health Medicine

• A grain legume similar to soybean

• WA is the main producer & exporter in the world
• Mainly used as an animal feed
• Under-valued rotation crop
• Costs less than other similar grain legumes

Lupin Field
 The lupin grain
a unique combination of
- high protein
- high dietary fibre
- low oil non-starch
polysaccharide
- no starch (< 2%)
starch
• Low glycaemic load
lipid

• Rich in antioxidants (lutein, lupeol)

• Low in anti-nutritional factors protein
(trypsin inhibitor, lectins, saponins)

wheat pea soybean lupin

 Australian Sweet Lupins: a very Healthy Asset
Centre for Food & Genomic Medicine (CFGM)
Studies have revealed that Australian Sweet Lupins
• Suppress Appetite
• Reduce the glycaemic load of carbohydrates
• Improve insulin sensitivity
• Reduce blood pressure
• Promotes growth of good bacteria
• Source of essential amino acids
• Gluten free
• Non-GM
Functional food - food where a new ingredient(s) added and the new
product has an additional function (often one related to health-promotion or
disease prevention)
Lupin Food Opportunities
Substantial value-adding
opportunity for WA grain growers
and food processors …

and …

Health benefits for consumers

 Future Foods – 2050
• Algae farms (free up farmland, huge outputs)
• Artificial meat – stem cells in giant vats, uses less
water, energy and land
• New crops – China: green super rice
• Insects – rich in protein,
low fat and cholesterol, high
Ca+2/Fe, insect farms across
Europe. Survive on paper,
algae and industrial waste.
Personalized Food Selection – informed by
one’s ‘Omics signatures: way of the Future