title: Do pollinators contribute to nutritional health?
abstract: Despite suggestions that animal pollinators are crucial for human nutritional health, no studies have actually tested this claim. Here, we combined data on crop pollination requirements, food nutrient densities, and actual human diets to predict the effects of pollinator losses on the risk of nutrient deficiency. In four developing countries and across five nutrients, we found that 0 to 56% of populations would become newly at risk if pollinators were removed. Increases in risk were most pronounced for vitamin A in populations with moderate levels of total nutrient intake. Overall, the effects of pollinator decline varied widely among populations and nutrients. We conclude that the importance of pollinators to human nutrition depends critically on the composition of local diets, and cannot be reliably predicted from global commodity analyses. We identify conditions under which severe health effects of pollinator loss are most likely to occur.
authors.affiliation: Gund Institute for Ecological Economics, University of Vermont, 617 Main St., Burlington, VT 05405, United States of America.
authors.forename: Alicia M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Ellis
authors.affiliation: Harvard School of Public Health, Department of Environmental Health, 401 Park Drive, Room 404-M, Boston, MA 02215, United States of America; Harvard University Center for the Environment, 24 Oxford St, Room 307, Cambridge, MA 02138, United States of America.
authors.forename: Samuel S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Myers
authors.affiliation: Gund Institute for Ecological Economics, University of Vermont, 617 Main St., Burlington, VT 05405, United States of America.
authors.forename: Taylor H
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Ricketts
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D001459:Bangladesh; D002136:Calcium, Dietary / Q000008:administration & dosage; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004032:Diet; D002149:Energy Intake / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005492:Folic Acid / Q000008:administration & dosage; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007313:Insecta / Q000502:physiology*; D019266:Iron, Dietary / Q000008:administration & dosage; D008875:Middle Aged; D009073:Mozambique; D009749:Nutrition Surveys / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D009752:Nutritional Status / Q000502:physiology*; D054817:Pollination / Q000502:physiology*; D011156:Population Density; D014454:Uganda; D014801:Vitamin A / Q000008:administration & dosage; D014815:Vitamins / Q000008:administration & dosage; D055815:Young Adult; D015024:Zambia; D015032:Zinc / Q000008:administration & dosage
chemical_list: D002136:Calcium, Dietary; D019266:Iron, Dietary; D014815:Vitamins; D014801:Vitamin A; D005492:Folic Acid; D015032:Zinc