Data_Sheet_1_Analysis of the Current Agricultural Production System, Environmental, and Health Indicators: Necessary the Rediscovering of the Pre-hispanic Mesoamerican Diet?.xlsx

The pre-Columbian Mesoamerican diet was characterized by being diverse, nutritionally balanced, and for integrating a remarkable diversity of plants and hundreds of animal species, mainly insects, fish, amphibians, and reptiles. In recent years, countries that used to have traditional healthy diets (e.g., Mexico, China, and India), now present some of the highest rates of diabetes, obesity, and overweight. The rise of non-communicable diseases (NCD) has been linked to the global consumption of highly processed foods, refined sugars, fats, and flours, typical to the Western diet. Additionally, the environmental footprint of the latter is high, as it requires large agricultural areas, great quantities of pesticides, and produces large amounts of greenhouse gases. Here, we show that by diversifying our current eating habits through the consumption of products that once were part of traditional diets, we could lower the prevalence of NCD, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, promote crop diversification, reduce extinction risk of species due to human activities, and at the same time, reincorporate traditions into socioeconomic processes. To this end, we reviewed World Health Organization (WHO), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and World Bank databases and assessed information on health, agricultural, and environmental variables for the countries with the highest incidence of NCD, over the last 40 years. Furthermore, we focused on Mexico because it is home to the pre-Hispanic Mesoamerican world, but currently displays the highest mortality rates due to diabetes, obesity, and overweight. This country also presents an important rate of land-use change, among other negative environmental issues resulting from the adoption of the Western diet. All these factors place Mexico as an interesting case study. Finally, to mitigate the main health, environmental, and agricultural problems, we suggest that public policies around the world should strive to promote the inclusion of native products from local ancestral diets into daily meals.

前哥伦布时期的中美洲饮食以多样性显著、营养均衡为核心特征，其膳食结构整合了极为丰富的植物类食材与数百种动物类物种，主要包括昆虫、鱼类、两栖类与爬行类动物。近年来，曾拥有传统健康饮食模式的国家（如墨西哥、中国与印度），如今却跻身糖尿病、肥胖症与超重患病率最高的国家行列。非传染性疾病（non-communicable diseases, NCD）的流行与全球范围内高加工食品、精制糖、脂肪及精制面粉的消费息息相关，而这类饮食正是西方饮食的典型特征。此外，西方饮食的环境足迹颇高：其生产过程需要占用大面积耕地、使用大量农药，同时还会排放大量温室气体。本研究表明，通过重拾传统饮食中的食材以优化当前饮食结构、实现饮食多样化，我们能够降低非传染性疾病的患病率、减少温室气体排放、推动作物种植多样化，并降低人类活动导致的物种灭绝风险；同时还能将传统饮食文化重新融入社会经济运行体系。为此，我们梳理了世界卫生组织（World Health Organization, WHO）、联合国粮食及农业组织（Food and Agriculture Organization, FAO）与世界银行的数据库，评估了过去40年间非传染性疾病高发病国家的健康、农业与环境相关变量信息。此外，我们选择墨西哥作为重点研究对象，原因在于该国既是前西班牙殖民时期中美洲文明的发源地，却又当前因糖尿病、肥胖症与超重导致的死亡率位居全球前列。同时，受西方饮食模式普及的影响，墨西哥还面临着土地利用变化率偏高及其他一系列负面环境问题。上述种种因素均使墨西哥成为极具研究价值的案例样本。最后，为缓解当前主要的健康、环境与农业问题，我们建议全球各国的公共政策应着力推动将本土传统饮食中的原生食材纳入日常膳食当中。