Multi-indicator design and assessment of sustainable diet plans

Abstract

In this work, a set of diet plans that are nutritionally adequate and healthy, affordable, and environmentally friendly is analyzed. They refer to two-week full-board menus for nursing homes and are designed using a multi-objective optimization model in which different conflicting goals, such as the carbon and water footprints, cost, and nutritional and acceptability requirements, are pursued. As a consequence, the design provides a set of several menus corresponding to different trade-offs between the goals.Energy and nutrient contents are constrained in suitable ranges suggested by the dietary recommendation of health authorities. The carbon and water footprints and the cost of the diet are considered as goals to be minimized.More than one hundred menus have been considered to explore all the possible tradeoffs between the three goals. The analysis shows that cheaper menus are more environmentally impacting and that it is possible to make a trade-off between the carbon and water footprints while keeping the cost of the menu unchanged. Moreover, it is possible to quantify the cost increase for a given improvement either of the carbon or water footprint. On the other hand, all the menus are nutritionally adequate and, more importantly, energy and nutrient contents are almost the same despite the large differences in their carbon and water footprints, and cost.Another interesting result of this study is the analysis of the relationships between the energy and nutrient intakes of the optimal menus and their cost and environmental impacts.

Understanding nutrition students' knowledge, perceived barriers and their views on the future role of nutritionists regarding sustainable diets

“…Only a few students alluded to dimensions of SDs other than environmental (e.g. health, social, economic), the complexities of the dimensions and potential trade‐offs (Benvenuti et al., 2021; Springmann et al., 2018), such as nutrition contribution and environmental impact (Steenson & Buttriss, 2021). There were also indications of misconceptions regarding the sustainability of certain food products or production methods.…”

Dietary Patterns at the Individual Level through a Nutritional and Environmental Approach: The Case Study of a School Canteen

“…The aim of this work was to propose an analysis model that provides public administrations and catering companies that deal with school catering with a tool that can be used by nutritionists in the composition of menus, combining both environmental and fundamental nutritional criteria. Some authors recently proposed methodologies on similar models with the aim of designing diets and menus with minimal impact but at the same time being nutritionally adequate and simultaneously healthy, acceptable, and affordable [ 26 , 27 ]. We had two specific objectives.…”