Health food is green food
An analysis of 57,000 foods reveals the foods with the highest and worst environmental impacts. The research team used algorithms to estimate the amount of each ingredient in thousands of products sold in major UK supermarket chains. By combining the impacts of the ingredients contained, we gave the food an environmental impact score out of 100. 100 points is the worst. They considered several factors, including greenhouse gas emissions and land use.
Researchers found that healthier foods tended to have less impact on the environment. Products containing lamb and beef, such as ready-made meat pies, had the most severe environmental impact. The foods with the least impact tended to be plant-based and included bakery products, fruits, vegetables, grains, and sugar-rich drinks.There were some notable exceptions: nuts. and seafood had good nutritional scores, but relatively high environmental impacts.
Source: M. Clark and others. Proceedings National Academy. Science.united states of america 119e2120584119 (2022).
COVID-19 rebound
After the COVID-19 antiviral drug Paxlovid began being used in late 2021, researchers noticed that some people experienced viral rebound and symptoms after taking the drug. Two of his recent studies suggest that it is surprisingly common for SARS-CoV-2 to recur even in her untreated COVID-19 cases. To determine the frequency of rebounds, Jonathan Lee, a medical scientist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, and his team randomized patients to a placebo in a large COVID-19 trial. analyzed data from hundreds of people who received antibody drug. More than one in four participants infected with SARS-CoV-2 reported symptom resolution, according to a yet-to-be-peer-reviewed study. “The key message is that recovery from COVID-19 is not a linear process,” he says.
Source: Deo, R. and others. Preprint at medRxiv https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.08.01.22278278 (2022).
How trees grow in a warm world
This graph shows how the arrival of early spring due to climate change affects tree growth and the amount of carbon they absorb.in the paper of Nature, researchers investigated the consequences of an early start of the growing season in deciduous forests. Following the emergence of leaves, carbon is taken up through the process of photosynthesis. Over time, carbon can be captured for long-term sequestration if it contributes to the radial growth of stems or the formation of wood. represents growth. Amount of carbon captured by leaves (top curve, brown). Annual radial growth (bottom left curve, blue). Increased woody biomass (bottom right curve, red).
The authors found that the early arrival of spring (brighter curve) shifting the growing season margins had little effect on the final ring width or the amount of woody biomass produced, whereas high summer temperatures had a negative effect. reported to have had an impact on Effect on radial growth (dotted curve). Other studies (plotted here by the dotted curve) show that high temperatures and associated drought can suppress carbon capture and woody biomass production.
This study provides evidence that warm springs promote leaf emergence in temperate deciduous forests, but do not significantly increase wood production. This suggests that excess uptake of carbon dioxide does not contribute to sustainable carbon sequestration in long-lived tree trunks, as described in the News and Views article.
