Parents’ preferences for a plant-based game for shifting to sustainable healthy diets

The Mediterranean diet (MD) concept as currently known describes the dietary patterns that were followed in specific regions of the area in the 1950s and 1960s. The broad recognition of its positive effects on the longevity of Mediterranean populations also led to the adoption of this diet in other regions of the world, and scientific interest focused on revealing its health effects. MD is not only linked with eating specific nutritional food products but also with social, religious, environmental, and cultural aspects, thus representing a healthy lifestyle in general. However, modern lifestyles adhere to less healthy diets, alienating people from their heritage. Therefore, considering the increasing evidence of the beneficial health effects of adherence to the MD and the ongoing transitions in consumers’ behavior, the present review focuses on updating the scientific knowledge regarding this diet and its relevance to agrobiodiversity. In addition, it also considers a sustainable approach for new marketing opportunities and consumer trends of the MD.

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Shaping Physical, Economic, and Policy Components of the Food Environment to Create Sustainable Healthy Diets

Food and Nutrition Bulletin ◽

10.1177/0379572120945904 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 41 (2_suppl) ◽

pp. 74S-86S

Author(s):

Adam Drewnowski ◽

Eva C. Monterrosa ◽

Saskia de Pee ◽

Edward A. Frongillo ◽

Stefanie Vandevijvere

Keyword(s):

Low Income ◽

Food Environment ◽

Food System ◽

Well Being ◽

Food Environments ◽

Healthy Foods ◽

Equitable Access ◽

Nutrition Labels ◽

Healthy Diets ◽

Physical Spaces

Background: Sustainable healthy diets are those dietary patterns that promote all dimensions of individuals’ health and well-being; have low environmental pressure and impact; are accessible, affordable, safe, and equitable; and are culturally acceptable. The food environment, defined as the interface between the wider food system and consumer’s food acquisition and consumption, is critical for ensuring equitable access to foods that are healthy, safe, affordable, and appealing. Discussion: Current food environments are creating inequities, and sustainable healthy foods are generally more accessible for those of higher socioeconomic status. The physical, economic, and policy components of the food environment can all be acted on to promote sustainable healthy diets. Physical spaces can be modified to improve relative availability (ie, proximity) of food outlets that carry nutritious foods in low-income communities; to address economic access certain actions may improve affordability, such as fortification, preventing food loss through supply chain improvements; and commodity specific vouchers for fruits, vegetables, and legumes. Other policy actions that address accessibility to sustainable healthy foods are comprehensive marketing restrictions and easy-to-understand front-of-pack nutrition labels. While shaping food environments will require concerted action from all stakeholders, governments and private sector bear significant responsibility for ensuring equitable access to sustainable healthy diets.

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Territorial and Sustainable Healthy Diets

Food and Nutrition Bulletin ◽

10.1177/0379572120976253 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 41 (2_suppl) ◽

pp. 87S-103S

Author(s):

Fatima Hachem ◽

Davy Vanham ◽

Luis A. Moreno

Keyword(s):

Natural Resources ◽

Dietary Habits ◽

Production Systems ◽

Political Support ◽

Economic Sustainability ◽

Policy Coherence ◽

Health And Nutrition ◽

Healthy Diets ◽

Rapid Changes ◽

New Nordic Diet

The rapid changes that societies have gone through in the last few decades have led to the increase in the prevalence of malnutrition in all its forms and to the degradation of natural resources and the environment. The change in the dietary habits and production systems are responsible for much of this change. Some territorial diets have been shown as potentially capable of reversing these trends by positively contributing to the health of people and the environment such as the Mediterranean Diet and the New Nordic Diet. In this paper, we review the contribution of these 2 diets to health and nutrition and to environmental, sociocultural, and economic sustainability proposing pertinent indicators. Learning from a culturally established diet and a constructed one, tradeoff could be reached to ensure better health and sustainability outcomes. Strong factors for achieving this goal lie in building on the sociocultural appropriation of diets, having the proper tools and indicators, investing in cross-sector collaboration and policy coherence, and having the necessary political support to push the agenda of sustainability forward.

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Evaluation of the impacts of a community garden program for veterans on food security and indicators of healthy diets.

Journal of Hunger & Environmental Nutrition ◽

10.1080/19320248.2021.1886215 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-4

Author(s):

Karen Besterman-Dahan ◽

Nora B. Arriola ◽

Sarah E. Bradley

Keyword(s):

Food Security ◽

Community Garden ◽

Healthy Diets

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Measuring cost and affordability of current vs. healthy diets in Argentina: an application of linear programming and the INFORMAS protocol

BMC Public Health ◽

10.1186/s12889-021-10914-6 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 21 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Gabriel Giacobone ◽

Maria Victoria Tiscornia ◽

Leila Guarnieri ◽

Luciana Castronuovo ◽

Sally Mackay ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Linear Programming ◽

Energy Intake ◽

Current Model ◽

Food Product ◽

Poor Households ◽

Average Household Income ◽

Healthy Diets ◽

Diet Cost ◽

The Difference ◽

Optimal Approach

Abstract Background Food cost and affordability is one of the main barriers to improve the nutritional quality of diets of the population. However, in Argentina, where over 60% of adults and 40% of children and adolescents are overweight or obese, little is known about the difference in cost and affordability of healthier diets compared to ordinary, less healthy ones. Methods We implemented the “optimal approach” proposed by the International Network for Food and Obesity/non-communicable diseases Research, Monitoring and Action Support (INFORMAS). We modelled the current diet and two types of healthy diets, one equal in energy with the current diet and one 6.3% lower in energy by linear programming. Cost estimations were performed by collecting food product prices and running a Monte Carlo simulation (10,000 iterations) to obtain a range of costs for each model diet. Affordability was measured as the percentage contribution of diet cost vs. average household income in average, poor and extremely poor households and by income deciles. Results On average, households must spend 32% more money on food to ensure equal energy intake from a healthy diet than from a current model diet. When the energy intake target was reduced by 6.3%, the difference in cost was 22%. There are no reasonably likely situations in which any of these healthy diets could cost less or the same than the current unhealthier one. Over 50% of households would be unable to afford the modelled healthy diets, while 40% could not afford the current diet. Conclusions Differential cost and affordability of healthy vs. unhealthy diets are germane to the design of effective public policies to reduce obesity and NCDs in Argentina. It is necessary to implement urgent measures to transform the obesogenic environment, making healthier products more affordable, available and desirable, and discouraging consumption of nutrient-poor, energy-rich foods.

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Toward Sociocultural Indicators of Sustainable Healthy Diets

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13137226 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (13) ◽

pp. 7226

Author(s):

Jill Nicholls ◽

Adam Drewnowski

Keyword(s):

Sustainable Development ◽

Food Systems ◽

Research Priorities ◽

Social Dimension ◽

The Sustainable Development ◽

Four Dimensions ◽

Sustainable Diets ◽

The Social ◽

Healthy Diets ◽

Development Goals

Balancing the social, economic and environmental priorities for public health is at the core of the United Nations (UN) approaches to sustainable development, including the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The four dimensions of sustainable diets are often presented as health, society, economics, and the environment. Although sustainable diet research has focused on health and the environment, the social and economic dimensions of sustainable diets and food systems should not be forgotten. Some research priorities and sociocultural indicators for sustainable healthy diets and food systems are outlined in this report. The present goal is to improve integration of the social dimension into research on food and nutrition security.

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Market Foods, Own Production, and the Social Economy: How Food Acquisition Sources Influence Nutrient Intake among Ecuadorian Farmers and the Role of Agroecology in Supporting Healthy Diets

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13084410 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (8) ◽

pp. 4410

Author(s):

Ana Deaconu ◽

Peter R. Berti ◽

Donald C. Cole ◽

Geneviève Mercille ◽

Malek Batal

Keyword(s):

Social Economy ◽

Women Farmers ◽

Food Acquisition ◽

Sustainable Farming ◽

Double Burden ◽

Environmental Consequences ◽

Nutrient Adequacy ◽

Acquisition Strategies ◽

The Social ◽

Healthy Diets

Rural Ecuadorians are experiencing a double burden of malnutrition, characterized by simultaneous nutrient inadequacies and excesses, alongside the social and environmental consequences of unsustainable agriculture. Agriculture can support farmer nutrition by providing income for market purchases and through the consumption of foods from own production. However, the nutritional contributions of these food acquisition strategies vary by context. We surveyed smallholder women farmers (n = 90) in Imbabura province to assess the dietary contributions of foods obtained through market purchase, own production, and social economy among farmers participating in agroecology—a sustainable farming movement—and neighboring reference farmers. We found that foods from farmers’ own production and the social economy were relatively nutrient-rich, while market foods were calorie-rich. Consumption of foods from own production was associated with better nutrient adequacy and moderation, whereas market food consumption was associated with a worse performance on both. Food acquisition patterns differed between farmer groups: agroecological farmers obtained 44%, 32%, and 23% of their calories from conventional markets, own production, and the social economy, respectively, while reference neighbors obtained 69%, 17%, and 13%, respectively. Our findings suggest that, in this region, farmer nutrition is better supported through the consumption of their own production than through market purchases, and sustainable farming initiatives such as agroecology may be leveraged for healthy diets.

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Legal and human rights-based approaches to healthy diets and sustainable food systems

European Journal of Public Health ◽

10.1093/eurpub/ckaa165.896 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽

Author(s):

D W Patterson ◽

K Buse ◽

R Magnusson ◽

B C A Toebes

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

Civil Society ◽

Global Health ◽

Food Systems ◽

Business Models ◽

Sustainable Food Systems ◽

Sustainable Food ◽

Healthy Diets ◽

Health And Development ◽

The Right

Abstract Issue Malnutrition in all its forms poses daunting challenges to global health and development. The agriculture sector is a significant contributor to global warming. COVID-19 has pushed many people into poverty, including food poverty. A radical rethink of business models, food systems, civil society involvement, and national and international governance is required to address the interlinked crises of COVID-19, obesity, undernutrition, and climate change. International human rights law, institutions and mechanisms provide important opportunities for norm setting, advocacy and accountability. Yet these pathways are under-utilised by both governments and civil society. Description The global AIDS response demonstrated the power of a human rights-based approach. United Nations' HIV/AIDS and Human Rights Guidelines greatly influenced the global consensus for effective, evidence-based approaches. The Guidelines also informed resolutions of the UN General Assembly and its Human Rights Council, contributing to more affordable medicines, an unprecedented increase in people on treatment, less stigmatising health services, the empowerment of marginalised groups, and the institutionalisation of norms, including “no one left behind.” Human rights-based approaches have also been successfully utilised in tobacco control. Results In 2019, 180 experts from 38 countries published an open call on WHO and the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to initiate an inclusive process to develop guidelines on human rights, healthy diets and sustainable food systems. Most signatories were from the health and development sectors, demonstrating the increasingly broad interest in using human rights mechanisms to address global health challenges. Lessons Opportunities exist to transform food systems and create healthier food environments and a healthier planet by clarifying existing international obligations to progressively realise the right to food and the right to health. Key messages Market forces, alone, are failing to deliver healthy diets and sustainable food systems. International legal frameworks and accountability mechanisms provide opportunities for engagement and action. Human rights guidelines can help mobilize multisectoral action, strengthen State and private sector accountability, and deepen community engagement in the urgent task of achieving Agenda 2030.

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Healthy diets

The Lancet ◽

10.1016/0140-6736(92)90561-g ◽

1992 ◽

Vol 339 (8800) ◽

pp. 1048

Keyword(s):

Healthy Diets

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