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Health burden from food systems is highly unequal across income groups

Zheng, Lianming; Adalibieke, Wulahati; Zhou, Feng; He, Pan; Chen, Yilin; Guo, Peng; He, Jinling; ... Shen, Huizhong; + view all (2024) Health burden from food systems is highly unequal across income groups. Nature Food , 5 pp. 251-261. 10.1038/s43016-024-00946-7. Green open access

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Abstract

Food consumption contributes to the degradation of air quality in regions where food is produced, creating a contrast between the health burden caused by a specific population through its food consumption and that faced by this same population as a consequence of food production activities. Here we explore this inequality within China's food system by linking air-pollution-related health burden from production to consumption, at high levels of spatial and sectorial granularity. We find that low-income groups bear a 70% higher air-pollution-related health burden from food production than from food consumption, while high-income groups benefit from a 29% lower health burden relative to their food consumption. This discrepancy largely stems from a concentration of low-income residents in food production areas, exposed to higher emissions from agriculture. Comprehensive interventions targeting both production and consumption sides can effectively reduce health damages and concurrently mitigate associated inequalities, while singular interventions exhibit limited efficacy.

Type: Article
Title: Health burden from food systems is highly unequal across income groups
Location: England
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1038/s43016-024-00946-7
Publisher version: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s43016-024-00946-7
Language: English
Additional information: This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher's terms and conditions.
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of the Built Environment
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10189768
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