Food & Climate
The Japanese discovered that “Fuji” type apples became less acidic and crunchy due to early blooming and ripening as a result of global warming years ago. And The compounds responsible for the red color of red leaf lettuce increase when the plant is exposed to high temperatures.
The case of wine is also well known: with heat, the concentration of sugars in the grape increases, raising the alcoholic content and the organoleptic profiles.
But does this mean that climate change has a good impact on food quality?
The agrarian researcher at the Aragon Institute of Agri-Food Research and Technology (CITA), Aurora Díaz, is one of the experts studying how nutritional value is affected by phenomena such as drought and water scarcity, sometimes leading to positive impacts on product quality and other times to negative effects, according a report seen by “Food & Climate” platform.
She said: “Plants deploy many mechanisms to cope with these stresses. One of them involves synthesizing compounds that protect plants from dehydration, and some of these compounds are sugars, which accumulate during dry periods, impacting the flavor of the foods we immediately perceive,”, according to “lavanguardia”.
Díaz has studied compounds that have a positive impact, such as those responsible for the red color of red leaf lettuce, which increase when the plant is exposed to high temperatures. However, it has also been found that when this vegetable is subjected to drought, it has less vitamin C.
Climate change is modifying food as we know it. A report from the European Environmental Policy Institute pointed out a few months ago that traditional recipes such as potato omelette or risotto are at risk due to the serious impact of droughts, rising temperatures, heavy rains, and floods on the cultivation of potatoes, olive oil, or Carnaroli rice.
Now, scientists worldwide are warning that these changes are also altering the nutritional composition of these ingredients and aspects such as their flavor.
And climate change can have other unwanted effects. In some tubers, for example, it has been observed that they synthesize more of a substance called lignin to protect themselves from drought, which makes their texture and digestion worse, according to Diaz. “The compounds can also be acidic and, in addition to protecting the plant from dehydration, they can form a physical barrier on the surface, giving the fruits acidity, bitterness, astringency, and some aspects that we consider negative,” she added.
About ten years ago, scientists from the University of Melbourne in Australia analyzed how climate change could reduce the quality of up to 55 staple foods in their country, from vegetables to meat. Another study from 2021 by Tufts and Montana universities in the United States concluded that planting coffee at higher altitudes as a form of climate adaptation is associated with a decrease in flavor and aroma quality. These organoleptic and nutritional changes are also being observed in products such as beer, cheese, and ham.
In some circumstances, climate change can contribute to longer growing periods and, therefore, result in greater yields. But extreme weather events like severe droughts can mean crops die before harvest. Atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide are linked to a changing climate, which impacts our yields. But more carbon dioxide has another, more direct impact on crops: “it can make our food less nutritious”, according to “Foodunfloded”.