title: Hidden shift of the ionome of plants exposed to elevated CO₂depletes minerals at the base of human nutrition.
abstract: Mineral malnutrition stemming from undiversified plant-based diets is a top global challenge. In C3 plants (e.g., rice, wheat), elevated concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide (eCO2) reduce protein and nitrogen concentrations, and can increase the total non-structural carbohydrates (TNC; mainly starch, sugars). However, contradictory findings have obscured the effect of eCO2 on the ionome-the mineral and trace-element composition-of plants. Consequently, CO2-induced shifts in plant quality have been ignored in the estimation of the impact of global change on humans. This study shows that eCO2 reduces the overall mineral concentrations (-8%, 95% confidence interval: -9.1 to -6.9, p<0.00001) and increases TNC:minerals > carbon:minerals in C3 plants. The meta-analysis of 7761 observations, including 2264 observations at state of the art FACE centers, covers 130 species/cultivars. The attained statistical power reveals that the shift is systemic and global. Its potential to exacerbate the prevalence of 'hidden hunger' and obesity is discussed.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.02245.001.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mathematics Education, The Catholic University of Daegu, Gyeongsan, Republic of Korea loladze@asu.edu.
authors.forename: Irakli
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Loladze
mesh_terms: D002245:Carbon Dioxide / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D008903:Minerals / Q000378:metabolism*; D009752:Nutritional Status; D010944:Plants / Q000145:classification / Q000378:metabolism*; D013045:Species Specificity
chemical_list: D008903:Minerals; D002245:Carbon Dioxide
keywords: crops; elevated CO2; human nutrition; ionome; iron; zinc