Brexit trade deficits may be leading cause of micronutrient shortage, experts flag

15 Jul 2022 --- The lingering and possible future effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the growing trend moving to plant-based diets as well as trade problems due to Brexit may pose considerable threats to the future availability of key micronutrients in the UK, a study has revealed.

“Over the past 60 years, the UK has become reliant on imports to meet the population’s needs for key vitamins such as A and C, and minerals such as iron, calcium and zinc,” Guy Poppy, lead researcher, deputy executive chair, Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), tells NutrtitionInsight.

“We have shown how the complex food supply chain and wider food system is vulnerable to the drivers affecting the world, namely climate, trade, infection and most recently, conflict in Ukraine. We need to think carefully about how to address this moving forward. Self-sufficiency isn’t necessarily the answer but having a more resilient system which improves human and environmental health is essential.”

Shortages: a looming reality?The need to switch to a plant-based diet as a tool against climate change may be a factor in future micronutrient shortages.
Though no shortages exist at present, the study highlights how the UK’s dependency on trade and imports for these key vitamins and minerals has escalated since Brexit. This, coupled with the effects of climate change, could lead to significant micronutrient deficiencies in the future.

“Understanding what can be grown domestically and how to incentivize such production is one part of the jigsaw as is understanding what imports are required and from where, bearing in mind what people currently consume and what they might consume in the future,” underscores Poppy.

“We are not aware of any specific shortages of micronutrients in the UK,” a spokesperson from the Department of Health and Social Care (DSHC) tells NutritionInsight. 

“We recently held a ‘call for evidence’ to seek views on how to improve the vitamin D status of the population to understand how levels of vitamin D can be improved to help with bone and muscle.

Vitamins by the numbers
As of 2016, the UK is 89.8% self-sufficient for vitamin A, 96.9% for Vitamin C, 85.7% for iron, 133.1% for calcium and 91.9% for zinc. However, population increase and continued effects of climate change reveal that these numbers may not be sustainable.

“The area of micronutrients has been overlooked,” he continues. “Too often, the focus is on calories, and this hides many aspects of food insecurity.”

“The COVID-19 pandemic has shown the importance of diets in outcomes of illness in terms of malnutrition, including too many calories as well as lacking key vitamins.” 

“One very clear observation is that the UK does need to think seriously about fruit and vegetable production and how to make it a growth industry in the UK,” says Poppy. “Science can play a key role here in the way it has for several staple crops, as can policy and information incentivizing the supply and demand of UK fruit and vegetables.”The DSHC says they are not aware of any current micronutrient shortages.

Better in the 60’s?
The study, published in Nature Food, reveals that, since the 1960s, the UK has become increasingly less self-sufficient and more dependent on trade and import to ensure future citizens’ diets can meet recommended daily allowances for several important nutrients.

“Many fruit and vegetables are coming from Europe or even further afield, and not easily grown in the UK,” explains Poppy. 

“Detailed analysis highlighted the reliance on EU fruit and vegetables, especially from the Netherlands and Spain, to meet the micro-nutritional security of the UK population.”

A future micronutrient crisis?
When stacked against the researchers’ scenarios, the availability of these micronutrients becomes increasingly scarce and less secure. Vitamin A availability drops to 75% with only 31% coming from domestic plants, calcium sits at 75.9% with only 52% domestic and zinc sits at 64.2% with only 40.1% being domestic.

Others like vitamin C and iron fair better, with vitamin C sitting at 267.6% availability and iron sitting at 117.2%. However, their domestic production availability rates are 79.1% and 70.2%, respectively.

Finding a solution
The study shows that UK policymakers will have to take all of these things into consideration if they are to avoid a crisis of micronutrient deficiency in the future. Though, many experts hold that the crisis is already underway.

“The response required to address Vitamin A may not be the same as to address zinc or calcium which is a challenge for policy/decision makers,” says Poppy. 

“Where micronutrient intakes are a concern, SACN [Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition] advises the government accordingly,” states the spokesperson for the DSHC. “SACN’s current work includes assessments on vitamin D, and from 2023 will include iodine and iron.”

Poppy concludes: “While the exact implications of Brexit are unknown as trading relationships are still being evolved, early insights have shown that disruption does occur and our historic analysis illustrates how significant changes in trading relationships does affect micronutrient security and especially the balance between self-sufficiency from domestic production as opposed to reliance on imports.”

By William Bradford Nichols