Journal Articles
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://mro.massey.ac.nz/handle/10179/7915
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Item Nutrient-adequate diets with the lowest greenhouse gas emissions or price are the least acceptable—insights from dietary optimisation modelling using the iOTA model®(Frontiers Media S.A., 2025-08-01) Tavan M; Smith NW; Fletcher AJ; Hill JP; McNabb WC; Das AOver the past decade, there has been an increasing interest in the environmental sustainability of diets because food systems are responsible for a third of the anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions (GHGE). However, less attention has been paid to the nutrient adequacy, consumer acceptability, and affordability of such diets. Such knowledge is particularly scarce in New Zealand, where approximately 40% of adults and 20% of children may live under severe to moderate food insecurity. The iOTA Model® is a country-specific dietary optimisation tool designed to fill this gap by bringing the various aspects of diet sustainability together and providing evidence-based knowledge on not just the environmental impact of food but also its economic and nutritional sustainability. The iOTA Model® was constructed using mixed integer linear programming by integrating New Zealand-specific dietary data. Features such as digestibility and bioavailability considerations have been incorporated as part of the iOTA Model®, allowing for a more accurate estimation of nutrient supply. The model is available as an open-access tool and allows users to explore various dimensions of a sustainable diet. Eight optimisation scenarios, along with baseline diets, were investigated for adult males and females in New Zealand. Results showed that reducing dietary GHGE or price by approximately 80% was possible while meeting nutrient adequacy requirements. However, such diets deviated substantially from the baseline eating patterns, indicating lower consumer acceptability, and only included a limited variety of foods. On the contrary, diets with minimum deviation from baseline remained realistic while adhering to nutrient targets and reducing GHGE by 10 and 30% in female and male consumers aged 19–30 years, respectively, and weekly price remained below the baseline. Expansion of the model to additional countries and its open-access nature will allow independent dietary sustainability research through optimisation.Item Reassessing the sustainability promise of cultured meat: a critical review with new data perspectives(Taylor and Francis Group, 2025-02-21) Tavan M; Smith NW; McNabb WC; Wood PThere are currently over 170 companies in the field of cultured meat (CM) which have attracted over US$3 Billion in investments since 2019. The CM industry owes much of this success to the many claims around environmental benefits and alleviating animal welfare concerns, while being equally nutritious and as acceptable as conventional meat. This review aims to provide a much needed discussion on the latest research findings concerning the nutritional and environmental sustainability of CM and provide an evidence-based discussion around some of the challenges that the industry faces today. Recent developments in the field have revealed that some of the sustainability claims of the CM industry are overly ambitious and not supported by evidence. Environmental assessments have revealed that CM production is highly energy intensive and its environmental footprint can only be improved if renewable energy sources are used. In terms of nutritional quality of CM, there are many unknowns and gaps in the knowledge that require investigation.Item Metabolite profiling of peripheral blood plasma in pigs in early postnatal life fed whole bovine, caprine or ovine milk(Frontiers Media S.A., 2023-09-26) Jena A; Montoya CA; Fraser K; Giezenaar C; Young W; Mullaney JA; Dilger RN; Roy D; McNabb WC; Roy NC; Leroux CRuminants' milk is commonly used for supplying nutrients to infants when breast milk is unavailable or limited. Previous studies have highlighted the differences between ruminants' milk composition, digestion, absorption, and fermentation. However, whether consuming different ruminants' milk impact the appearance of the circulatory blood metabolites in the early postnatal life is not well understood. The analysis conducted here aimed to determine the effect of feeding exclusively whole milk from bovine, caprine or ovine species to pigs, approximately 7 days-old for 15 days, on circulatory blood plasma metabolites. Relative intensities of plasma metabolites were detected using a liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry based metabolomic approach. Seven polar and 83 non-polar (lipids) metabolites in plasma were significantly different (false discovery rate < 0.05) between milk treatments. These included polar metabolites involved in amino acid metabolism and lipids belonging to phosphatidylcholine, lysophosphatidylcholine, sphingomyelin, and triglycerides. Compared to the caprine or bovine milk group, the relative intensities of polar metabolites and unsaturated triglycerides were higher in the peripheral circulation of the ovine milk group. In contrast, relative intensities of saturated triglycerides and phosphatidylcholine were higher in the bovine milk group compared to the ovine or caprine milk group. In addition, correlations were identified between amino acid and lipid intake and their appearance in peripheral blood circulation. The results highlighted that consuming different ruminants' milk influences the plasma appearance of metabolites, especially lipids, that may contribute to early postnatal life development in pigs.Item The effects of ruminant milk treatments on hippocampal, striatal, and prefrontal cortex gene expression in pigs as a model for the human infant(Frontiers Media S.A., 2022-08-15) Jena A; Montoya CA; Young W; Mullaney JA; Roy D; Dilger RN; Giezenaar C; McNabb WC; Roy NC; Lim CKWhile infant formula is usually bovine milk-based, interest in other ruminant milk-based formulas is growing. However, whether different ruminant milk treatments with varying nutrient compositions influence the infant's brain development remains unknown. The aim was to determine the effects of consuming bovine, caprine, or ovine milk on brain gene expression in the early postnatal period using a pig model of the human infant. Starting at postnatal day 7 or 8, pigs were exclusively fed bovine, ovine, or caprine milk for 15 days. The mRNA abundance of 77 genes in the prefrontal cortex, hippocampus, and striatum regions was measured at postnatal day 21 or 22 using NanoString. The expression level of two hippocampal and nine striatal genes was most affected by milk treatments, particularly ovine milk. These modulatory genes are involved in glutamate, gamma-aminobutyric acid, serotonin, adrenaline and neurotrophin signaling and the synaptic vesicle cycle. The expression level of genes involved in gamma-aminobutyric acid signaling was associated with pigs' lactose intake. In contrast, milk treatments did not affect the mRNA abundance of the genes in the prefrontal cortex. This study provides the first evidence of the association of different ruminant milk treatments with brain gene expression related to cognitive function in the first 3 months of postnatal life.