Healthier and more sustainable diets: What changes are needed in high‐income countries?

Abstract

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Food-Based Dietary Guidelines and Protein Quality Definitions—Time to Move Forward and Encompass Mycoprotein?

“…In the UK, it has been reported that complying with the UK Eatwell Guide would help to reduce GHG emissions of current adult diets by 30%, and reduce water use by 4% [ 41 ]. These conclusions were drawn from a review of 29 studies that adopted a range of methodologies to define healthier, sustainable diets [ 42 ]. In this publication, it was concluded that protein diversity is one means of making diets healthier and more sustainable with the inclusion of beans, pulses, nuts, seeds, soya and mycoprotein being some actions that people could take [ 41 , 42 ].…”

“…These conclusions were drawn from a review of 29 studies that adopted a range of methodologies to define healthier, sustainable diets [ 42 ]. In this publication, it was concluded that protein diversity is one means of making diets healthier and more sustainable with the inclusion of beans, pulses, nuts, seeds, soya and mycoprotein being some actions that people could take [ 41 , 42 ]. This is a positive move forward, although these shifts remain to be formally embedded within the Eatwell Guide infographic.…”

Bridging gaps in food labelling

“…On the one hand, this compromises the potential of Nutri-Score, for example, to unconsciously steer at-risk populations and further underlines the fact that FOP labels themselves should not be seen as a holy grail for transforming the food system. On the other hand, it raises the possibility of an aggregated score, combining environmental and nutritional indices, which maintains the potential to guide fast evaluations (Steenson & Buttriss, 2021). Nevertheless, aggregated scores may also increase the potential for confusion.…”

Sustainable Diet Optimization Targeting Dietary Water Footprint Reduction—A Country-Specific Study

“…Water use and pollution are among the main critical problems, as water resources are limited to access [1] and profoundly essential for food production, that is creating as much as 70% of the total anthropogenic water footprint and being the main cause of water pollution [6]. In addition, the (mainly blue) water footprint often shows different trade-offs compared to other footprints [7][8][9][10][11][12]. On the other hand, dietary risk factors are the second largest (after tobacco use) contributors to the development of Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), that are the leading cause of death in the developed countries [13], and thus a shift towards a healthier diet would also be critically important regarding the issue of health.…”

“…There are different conceptual approaches to study the theoretical shift towards a more sustainable diet on a local or global level. The two main methods are the dietary scenario analysis and diet optimization studies [10,[14][15][16][17], and they are primarily focused on the reduction of dietary greenhouse gas emission (GHGE) as the environmental impact category, among several other metrics. Numerous studies have concentrated on the water footprint consequences of dietary shifts towards healthier diets based on scenario analyses.…”