Choice of health metrics for combined health and environmental assessment of foods and diets: A systematic review of methods

Guo, Annie; Bryngelsson, Susanne; Strid, Anna; Marta, Bianchi; Anna, Winkvist; Hallström, Elinor

doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2022.132622

Cited by 10 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 76 publications

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“…Diet is crucial for human health and its poor implementation can trigger a large number of diseases, some afflicting society in recent years with the incorporation of processed foods and an overall decrease in healthy products [19]. According to Guo et al [44], poor diet is responsible for one-fifth of the global disease burden; additionally, the spread of COVID-19 during the past number of years raised consumer consideration for healthy products beyond nutritional properties. Thus, at present, market-oriented products concentrate on the performance of essential components; consequently, quantitative research on their main biological activities is important [30].…”

Section: Grape Pomace For the Technological And Functional Enhancemen...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Grape Pomace—Advances in Its Bioactivity, Health Benefits, and Food Applications

Almanza-Oliveros,

Bautista-Hernández,

Castro-López

et al. 2024

Foods

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From a circular economy perspective, the appropriate management and valorization of winery wastes and by-products are crucial for sustainable development. Nowadays, grape pomace (GP) has attracted increasing interest within the food field due to its valuable content, comprising nutritional and bioactive compounds (e.g., polyphenols, organic and fatty acids, vitamins, etc.). Particularly, GP polyphenols have been recognized as exhibiting technological and health-promoting effects in different food and biological systems. Hence, GP valorization is a step toward offering new functional foods and contributing to solving waste management problems in the wine industry. On this basis, the use of GP as a food additive/ingredient in the development of novel products with technological and functional advantages has recently been proposed. In this review, we summarize the current knowledge on the bioactivity and health-promoting effects of polyphenolic-rich extracts from GP samples. Advances in GP incorporation into food formulations (enhancement of physicochemical, sensory, and nutritional quality) and information supporting the intellectual property related to GP potential applications in the food industry are also discussed.

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Section: Grape Pomace For the Technological And Functional Enhancemen...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Grape Pomace—Advances in Its Bioactivity, Health Benefits, and Food Applications

Almanza-Oliveros,

Bautista-Hernández,

Castro-López

et al. 2024

Foods

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“…The literature on the nutrition-environment nexus and sustainable diets notes a consistent focus on climate change as the priority environmental impact category of interest (Heller et al, 2013;Hallström et al, 2015;Jones et al, 2016;Eme et al, 2019;Guo et al, 2022;Harrison et al, 2022). Given the current climate crisis (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), 2023a), climate change was considered for the environmental impact analysis.…”

Section: Climate Change Scoresmentioning

confidence: 99%

An nLCA approach to support consumer meal decisions: a New Zealand case study of toppings on toast

Majumdar,

McLaren,

van der Pols

et al. 2024

Front. Sustain. Food Syst.

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IntroductionThis study investigates the development and potential application of a nutritional Life Cycle Assessment (nLCA) method to rank meals, using a case study of a “toppings on toast” (ToTs) meal. Methodological issues are investigated in the context of application to support consumers to make more informed food choices at the meal level.MethodsFourteen selected “toppings on toast” (ToTs) commonly consumed in New Zealand (NZ) were evaluated for their climate change impacts and nutritional value using the serve size of each topping as the functional unit (FU). NZ-specific climate change values were obtained from an existing database and recent literature. Nutritional value was calculated using the NRF family of indices – specifically the NRF9.3 and NRF28.3 indices (the latter constructed for this study to include all nutrients in the selected toppings for which reference values were available) and presented in a separate midpoint nutrition impact category. The NRF and climate change scores were assigned quartile-based weights, and the weight of each index score was averaged with that of the climate change score. Based on these average values, the toppings were ranked in two ranking sets (one for each index). In a sensitivity analysis, two alternative reference units were also used (100 g and 100 kcal) to investigate how different FUs influenced the final rankings.ResultsThe results showed that use of one or other NRF index affected the magnitude of the nLCA results; however, the rankings of the ToTs based on the nLCA results did not change much between the two indices. Avocado and peanut butter performed the best (top two ranks), and bacon, butter, and cheese were the poorest performers (bottom two ranks), for both the ranking sets. The toppings which did change ranks mostly moved up or down by only one position. Thus, the results of this case study suggest that the NRF9.3 index is sufficient to determine overall the best, medium, and worst performing toppings in the ToT meal context. However, the results also showed that water-soluble vitamins and unsaturated fats included in the NRF28.3 index contributed significantly to the nutritional scores for most of the toppings and were instrumental in the rank changes for the toppings which are particularly rich in these nutrients.DiscussionThus, for a more diverse range of toppings/meals, an expanded index including these nutrients can generate more nuanced rankings. This study contributes to the nascent but fast-growing nLCA research field, particularly within the meal context. The method used in this case study could be applied in food composition databases, restaurant menus, and websites/apps that provides recipes for meals. However, the study also highlighted the potentially significant variability in climate change and nutritional values in the toppings associated with different production practices, seasonality, and different varieties of the same product. Any future development of nLCA-based meal level rankings should address this variability and communicate it to the consumer.

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“…A recent systematic review of methods for combining health and environmental assessment of foods and diets argues that future research on sustainable diets would benefit from a greater focus on dietary changes that enable reduced intake of discretionary foods and excessive energy intake (32) . The Australian study by Hadjikakou (1) showed that discretionary foods and drinks account for a significant part of the diet-related life cycle water use, GHGe and land use.…”

Section: Implications For Sustainability Aspectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Discretionary foods and drinks in Norwegian children and adolescents’ diet: data from the national dietary survey Ungkost 3

Paulsen,

Myhre,

Totland

et al. 2023

Public Health Nutr.

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Objective: This study aimed to identify the amount of discretionary foods and drinks consumed by Norwegian children and adolescents, describe how such products contribute to the intake of total energy and nutrients, and study the distribution in intake of discretionary foods and drinks across different meals. Secondly, the aim was to explore factors associated with those children and adolescents having the highest consumption of discretionary foods and drinks. Design: Secondary analysis of data from a national survey of dietary intake among Norwegian children and adolescents. Setting: Schools in 50 randomly selected municipalities in Norway. Participants: The study population included 636 pupils in 4th grade (9-11 years) and 687 pupils in 8th grade (12-14 years). Results: Discretionary foods and drinks contributed to about 20% of the children and adolescents’ total energy intake. These food and beverage items contributed to about two-thirds of the participants’ intake of added sugar, and limited amounts of dietary fiber, vitamins and minerals. The quartile which had the lowest proportion of their energy intake from discretionary foods and drinks seemed to have a higher intake of whole grains, and fish and seafood. Conclusions: Almost all 4th and 8th graders in Norway consumed discretionary foods and drinks and these products contributed to a substantial proportion of the total energy intake and limited amounts of nutrients. Those children and adolescents consuming the least discretionary foods and drinks had a higher intake of whole grains, fish and seafood, indicating healthier and more sustainable food habits.

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Choice of health metrics for combined health and environmental assessment of foods and diets: A systematic review of methods

Cited by 10 publications

References 76 publications

Grape Pomace—Advances in Its Bioactivity, Health Benefits, and Food Applications

Grape Pomace—Advances in Its Bioactivity, Health Benefits, and Food Applications

An nLCA approach to support consumer meal decisions: a New Zealand case study of toppings on toast

Discretionary foods and drinks in Norwegian children and adolescents’ diet: data from the national dietary survey Ungkost 3

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