For our online symposium « Eating to protect our health and our planet », we asked Lori Shemek to cover Pieter van’t Veer’s talk for us. Dr. Shemek holds a Doctorate in Psychology; she is a Certified Nutritional Consultant and a Certified Life Coach. Follow her on Twitter: @LoriShemek

I am honored to review the June 2, 2020 symposium Eating to Protect our Health and Planet sponsored by Yogurt In Nutrition that includes research presentations by Janet Ranganathan, Prof Pieter van’t Veer and Jess Haines, PhD.

The need to shift to more sustainable diets and food systems that have less of an environmental impact is of increasing concern, but how to ensure that the public supports this transition?

To help us understand more, I am summarizing Dr. Pieter van’t Veer’s research presentation entitled Healthy and Sustainable Diets. Pieter van’t Veer, is a Professor, Chair Nutrition, Public Health and Sustainability at the Wageningen University and Research. He actively links nutrition and public health to environmental sustainability. He eloquently summarizes what we can learn from modeling studies for sustainable diets.

Dr. van’t Veer states that not only is our current global diet undernourished but adding in the element of unsustainable food systems creates a complex global situation.

Dr. Van ‘t Veer admits that a change to a global sustainable, healthy diet is not an easy task and essentially unrealistic when we do not take into account the consumer’s vital acceptability. Yet he says it can be accomplished using two modeling techniques he presented: The classical food-based model Optimeal and SHARP both are software programs to help design the optimal diet in each country that will have less GHGE and yet be nutrient-rich and with consumer acceptability. I will be explaining these two models more in-depth later in the article, as guides to achieve these challenges of a healthier planet and population with diets, that as mentioned, are part of the prevailing culture.

To grasp the task more fully, it is of key importance to note that Food-Based Dietary Guidelines (FBDG) is used as a benchmark with the Optimeal or Sharp models.

By limiting red meat, refined grains, sweet beverages etc. we are not only promoting better health but increasing the nutrient-density and palatability of the diet while decreasing the C02 footprint. However, increasing fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, fish, some dairy and specific added nutrients will reduce our GHGE and improve health outcomes at the same time.

What is the Eat-Lancet report ?

One quarter to a third of our total CO2 footprint comes from food. With this in mind, the Eat-Lancet Commission provided some Recommendations for a more sustainable diet:

• Optimal Caloric Nutrition
• Include Diversity of Plant-Based Foods
• Limited Animal-Sourced Foods
• Limited Refined Grains and Highly Processed Foods
• Doubling Fruits, Vegetables, Legumes and Nuts

By adhering to a diet such as this, greenhouse gas emissions worldwide would be reduced to about 50% compared to the Business as Usual (BAU) Eat-Lancet.

Is the Eat-Lancet report the solution to reducing our global footprint?

The proposal of this commission is that food production promotes a high level of C02 worldwide and shifting to plant-based diet would have massive benefits. However, Van ‘t Veer explained that removing drastically animal protein from the diet, which animal protein alone creates a large GHGE footprint, would have serious nutritional consequences for world health as animal protein provides important key micro-nutrients such as calcium, iron, zinc and all essential amino acids, including vitamin B12 – there would be a reduction in nutrients. Although global food production is feeding millions worldwide with refined foods, sugar and more, the average diet is still extremely low in key nutrients. This inadequate nutrition has led to poor health worldwide that includes heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, obesity and higher morbidity and mortality.

Incorporating the main tenets of the Eat-Lancet diet to reduce future environmental impact, means we need to extrapolate the Eat-Lancet tenet’s overall recommendations to national and cultural boundaries where human actions have become the main driver of global environmental change. It is the consumers who ultimately make the choices as their acceptability ultimately dictates changes.

What are these Optimal Models and how can the help us?

Dr. van’t Veer states that data and models are necessary to design this dietary transformation.

As mentioned, Dr. van’t Veer’s presented the models Optimeal and SHARP that allow us to see the potential impact of a healthy diet on the environment. We know that Data is a key component in diet design, that includes C02 reduction.

When you go from the bottom to the top of the hierarchy towards the Demand-side of the consumer, results become much more realistic from the consumer point of view.

The Supply-side Food System contains commodity-based models that incorporate food balance sheets and nutrient composition (typically using energy and protein) and demand-side of the consumers. Further up the hierarchy are Food-Based Models that use a much more refined nutrient composition than commodity-based models. Also included are footprints and GHGE.

On the Demand-side of consumers in the hierarchy, nutritional surveys are calculated and food-based dietary guidelines to offer a direction of change to the models. Developing these types of models further, adding determinants such as taste, price, time, place, convenience etc. because these factors always play a prominent role in consumer food choice.

Within the Food-Based Models, Dr. Van’t Veer uses Optimeal (classical) and for the Diet-Based Models, he uses the SHARP model – is an acronym for: Sustainability; Health; Affordability; Reliability and Preferability.

Both Optimeal and SHARP models also indicate that dairy fits well into a healthy and sustainable diet due to the high concentration of nutrients per portion and results in lower Greenhouse Gas Emissions (GHGE) – Pieter van’t Veer, June 2020

In the SHARP model, protein sources shifted from red and processed meat to either eggs, fish or dairy. Depending on the country, liquid dairy increased to 105-145%, cheese changed to 77-122% of current intakes.

The DEA model, a benchmark approach (Data Envelopment Analysis, DEA) includes SHARP that uses a set of current diets as opposed to foods via the MP model where you create a combination of foods to make a diet (versus combining diets to achieve a calculated diet).  DEA is interesting as it includes currently acceptable cultural diets via the population. Using the SHARP DEA Model, the benchmark is observed diets using FBDG that are culturally acceptable. Healthful diets that are not yet environmentally very sustainable.

Using the EAT-Lancet which is also referred to as the ‘Planetary Health Diet’ (very close to the Mediterranean Diet) that calls for a 50% reduction in global consumption of red meat and sugar, and an over 100% increase in nuts, fruits, vegetables, and legumes, by 2050, has been touted as outdated by many as we know that some saturated fat is healthy for cellular health, hormone health and more.

In describing the OPTIMEAL Model, it is a classic food-based model using nutritional criteria adding in environmental criteria, creating a healthy and sustainable diets. This should be as close to what people are used thereby avoiding any deviance. If there is any deviance, reconsideration is necessary using additional criteria such as ensuring that the diet truly adheres to FBDG criteria, restriction in food intake etc.

FBDG Benchmarking Guidelines include an increase in fish, nuts, seeds, legumes, whole grains, unsaturated fat, liquid milk slightly and the micronutrients calcium, zinc, B2, B12 and a decrease in red and processed meat, refined grains, sweet beverages, alcohol and saturated fat.

The impact on Greenhouse Gas Emissions – is it Realistic?

To meet the GHGE-target, an example would be much more plant-based foods and much less animal protein. Potential further restrictions that would include marked reduction in dairy and zero animal protein. This is not recommended, as nutritionally it is not realistic from a consumer compliance perspective and it lacks diversity. Simply adding in more meat and dairy creates acceptability with the consumer and promotes an improved carbon footprint. This is different from the MP in Optimeal, where here only nine food groups are considered along with fats, oils, alcohol and added four micronutrients that would otherwise be lacking.

With the SHARP model, you reduce greenhouse gas emissions maximize sustainability while simultaneously increasing nutrient density. Eat-Lancet diet benchmark showing alone, its ability to markedly reduce GHGE. If the EU-benchmark diets were used, a 31 percent decrease in GHGE.

Both models shift from animal to plant-sourced foods with the Optimeal model showing less animal-sourced foods. The SHARP model suggests less alcohol and sweet drinks would be a more realistic option.  Liquid dairy increased in the SHARP model and slightly reduced in Optimeal. However, both models show dairy to be a part of healthy and sustainable diets due to their nutrient richness and lower GHGE footprints, as compared to other animal-sourced products.

Cultural diets play a key role along with consumer acceptance and food based dietary guidelines (FBDG) which then shifts the models closer when added to Optimeal.

Dr. van’t Veer indicates that Optimeal is important to setting goals for population averages. He states that acceptability, being a key feature can easily be incorporated. The SHARP model is an excellent tool that can be utilized as advice within the eating culture.

 

For our online symposium « Eating to protect our health and our planet », we asked Nathalie Hutter-Lardeau to cover Janet Ranganathan’s talk for us. Nathalie Hutter-Lardeau is nutritionist, author and multiple business manager. Follow her on Twitter: @NathalieHUTTER

Nutrition 2020 Live Online, which took place between 1st and 4th June 2020, offered virtual attendees from all over the world a great content of lectures and scientific sessions. One of the sponsored satellite programs organized on June 2nd by the Yogurt in Nutrition Initiative for a Balanced Diet examined the question of “Eating to protect our Health and Our Planet”. The session started with a very complete and pragmatic speech entitled:

“Creating a sustainable food future: a menu of solutions to feed nearly 10 billion people by 2050”.

It was delivered by Janet Ranganathan, Vice President for Research, Data, and Innovation at the World Resources Institute (WRI), a global research organization.

Janet Ranganathan has been involved in sustainable development for more than 25 years. What she learnt from her experience in this field is that the roots of many environmental issues can be led back to the food sector.

She started her talk by explaining that a couple of years ago with the WRI she started to look at the food sector trying to find out possible solutions to make it more sustainable, rather than focusing on problems.

To feed 10 billion people sustainably by 2050, it will be necessary to fill the three following gaps:

• The food gap which is the difference between the amount of calories produced in 2010 and the amount necessary to meet to feed the population adequately by 2050. This gap is estimated to be 7,400 trillion calories, or 56 percent more crop calories than were produced in 2010.
• The land gap which corresponds to the difference between global agricultural land area used in 2010 and the area required in 2050. This gap which is estimated to be 593 million hectares (an area nearly twice the size of India) should be brought to zero by 2050.
• The GHG mitigation gap which represents the difference between the annual greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from agriculture and land-use change in 2050 estimated at 15 gigatons of carbon dioxide equivalent (Gt CO2e). It also represents the target of 4 Gt that represents agriculture’s proportional contribution to holding global warming below the level necessary for preventing the worst climate impacts. This means a gap of 11 Gt to be filled knowing that agricultural emissions in 2050 baseline equal 70% of total allowable emissions for all sectors in 2050.

Janet Ranganathan also underlined that about 28% of the global population is connected directly or indirectly to employment in the agricultural sector.

There is no silver bullet to close these gaps but that there are combined approaches that together can help fill these gaps. J. Ranganathan, WRI, June 2020

WRI has identified 22 solutions to increase productivity and to decrease consumption. The relative importance of each solution varies from country to country.

These solutions are organized into a five-course menu.

1/ Reduce the growth in demand for food and other agricultural products

One approach to solve this, would be to reduce food loss and waste. 32% of global food (when expressed in weight according to FAO data) corresponding to 24% when calculated in calories by the WRI is wasted around the world. Waste happens at every step of the supply chain.  In poorer countries, waste occurs closer to the field and in richer countries nearer to the fork. Thus, waste generated at production level represents respectively 36% in sub-Saharan Africa and 17% in North America and Oceania whereas the part of waste occurring at consumption level is 5% in sub-Saharan Africa and 61% in North America and Oceania (graph.1).

The WRI looked at strategies to reduce food loss and waste at each step of the chain, i.e. improve harvesting and storage techniques, reduce food loss and waste, change date labeling practices or reduce portion sizes.

If cities, countries and businesses could measure food loss and waste, they would certainly do more to manage it. Janet Ranganathan also mentioned the CHAMPIONS 12.3 INITIATIVE involving private and public sector leaders who committed themselves to cut per capital food waste in half by 2030.

In order to reduce growth in demand, we will also have to shift to healthier and more sustainable diets. Globally, diets are converging towards more Western style diets, people are consuming more calories and proteins than required and there is an overall overconsumption of proteins. Likewise demand for animal-based protein is projected to grow 80% by 2050. All foods are not equal regarding their environmental impact. Animal based foods are more resource-intensive than plant-based foods.  If we take the example of meat, reducing the consumption of ruminant meat to 52kcal per day in all regions reduces GHG gap by half and nearly closes the land gap. WRI-led innovation hubs including food companies involved in the food sector have worked on innovative strategies that can help to shift eating habits.  One interesting approach highlighted by Janet Ranganathan is that of menu language which can influence food choices and for instance make fruits and vegetables more appealing. It has been shown that people will opt for indulgently labeled foods such as for example “twisted garlic-ginger butternut squash wedges” rather than for basic “butternut squash”.

Among other proposals to reduce growth in demand for food is the idea to avoid competition from bioenergy for food crops and land. Indeed, if the world’s entire harvest crops were used for bioenergy, it would only provide 20% of energy needs in 2050. Dedicating land to bioenergy production should be avoided if it is to sustainably feed the global population in 2050.

2/ Increase food production without expanding agricultural land

To achieve this goal, the productivity of livestock and pasture must be increased. Science breakthroughs will help the improvement of crop breeding to boost yields and more importantly the adaptation to climate change.

3/ Natural ecosystems must be protected and restored

Indeed, unproductive and liberated agricultural lands must be reforested and cropland expansion should be kept at its minimum and preferably to lands with low environmental opportunity costs. A special attention should be given to peatlands which are drained and thus emitting GHG without speaking of the destruction of their ecosystems. Finally, we need to link productivity gains with the protection of natural ecosystems.

4/ Increase fish supply

In order to meet the world fish demand in 2050, we need to increase fish supply and aquaculture production must continue to grow. To preserve the biodiversity and marine ecosystems, wild fisheries management should be improved as well as the productivity and environmental performance of aquaculture.

5/ Reduce GHG emissions from agricultural production

Many solutions are available through new technologies, manure management or nitrogen use efficiency. Shifting to nonfossil energy sources must be considered and encouraged. We also need to focus on realistic options in order to sequester carbon in soils.

This session was the occasion for J. Ranganathan to provide a realistic overview of lots of solutions implemented in different food sectors to fill 3 major gaps identified by the WRI in order to be able to sustainably feed the planet in 2050. There is no silver bullet but combining these solutions to fill each gap with the help of new technologies will hopefully contribute to prepare a sustainable future as well as generate co-benefits such as economic development.

To find out more : World Resources Report –  Creating a Sustainable Future

“Dairy Consumption at Snack Meal Occasions and the Overall Quality of Diet during Childhood. Prospective and Cross-Sectional Analyses from the IDEFICS/I.Family Cohort”

IN A NUTSHELL: Recently published in Nutrients, this study, based on the data available in eight European countries, among children aged 2 to 9 years old, describes food consumption, focusing on dairy products, at snack meal occasions during childhood. It investigates the relationship with the overall diet quality.

The publication shows that consumption of dairy products as snacks is associated with a better overall diet quality during childhood.

Source: Iglesia I. et al. Dairy Consumption at Snack Meal Occasions and the Overall Quality of Diet during Childhood. Prospective and Cross-Sectional Analyses from the IDEFICS/I.Family Cohort;Nutrients. 2020 Feb 28;12(3):642. doi: 10.3390/nu12030642.

 TO GO FURTHER, WE MAY HAVE SOME DOCUMENTS FOR YOU:

• What is a healthy snack?
• Yogurt is a good alternative when snacking
• Nutritious snack choices with yogurt
• Dairy consumption is inversely associated with childhood obesity
• And what if yogurt was the best snack for children?
• Keeping blood sugar in check: yogurt may be the smart choice for kids at snack-time
• Do you know what are the most nutrient-dense snacks?
• Combine food with yogurt for a satisfying snack
• How yogurt can be a satisfying snack
• Snacking: opportunities for nutrient-dense foods?

You can also try some tasty recipes for snacks:

• Goat’s cheese, grape and pecan balls
• Fruit and yogurt protein parfaits

Discover and download below the first part of our Questions & Answers by Janet Ranganathan and Jess Haines.

Download the Q&A – part 1 (pdf)

Stay tuned… in a few days, the second part of the Questions & Answers, by Pieter van’t Veer and on general topic, will be put online…

According to the recent data on sustainable healthy diets, we have developped a new infographic on the topic.

What is a sustainable healthy diet?

Sustainable healthy diets are dietary patterns that:

• promote all dimensions of individuals’ health and wellbeing
• have a low environmental impact
• are accessible, affordable, safe, equitable and culturally acceptable

How to eat more sustainable?

By reducing wastage and making healthier food choice, we can cut global GHG emission by up to 50%!

• Increase vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds, as well as seasonal produce consumptions
• Reduce food waste (1/3 of all food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted)
• Limit added sugars and empty calories, ultra-processed food and red meat

You can click on each part of the infographic to have it in png version for an easy print and download. You can also download the complete version in pdf below.

Download the pdf version

At the Yogurt In Nutrition Initiative, we look forward to a more sustainable 2020 and bring you 12 food resolutions to protect our health and our planet. This month’s resolution: reduce food loss and waste by becoming a meal planner.

Become a meal planner and buy only what you need!

Did you know that one-third of all food produced currently goes to waste. On a planet where nearly 820 million people are starving, many waste precious edible food.

The EAT-Lancet report recommends cutting food losses in half. This will require major changes in the food systems: storage, transport, processing and packaging (especially in low-income countries); but also, distribution, retail, and even cooking. Informing consumers, food retailers and restaurant owners on how to reduce their food waste (especially in higher-income countries) is also an important step in our food waste reduction. In addition to dietary changes, reduction in food loss and waste could further slow down food environmental impact, FAO & WHO say.

According to some reports, improving diets and decreasing food waste are essential steps in order to reduce emissions, and provide global food security in 2050. The journey our food takes to reach our dinner plate uses energy. Even disposal of waste food takes up energy and w can no longer allow that loss of food and energy.

When it comes to retail and consumer, food waste is very costly. The majority of losses are related to meat, poulty and fish (41%), vegetables (17%) and dairy products (14%). Many liquid items (milk, yogurt) are disposed of in the sink, so their loss is difficult to determine.

Changing our consumption habits is a major priority to reduce food loss:

• Try to plan your meals each week. Always make a shopping list and a weekly menu.
• Make sure that all the product you buy will be consumed. In other words, shop only what you need!
• Organize your food and meal according to the “FIFO” method: “First In, First Out”.
• Store your food correctly. Store bananas, apples and tomatoes apart, since they can make other perishables spoiled.
• Batch cooking can be a useful strategy to diminish your household food waste: it consists of preparing several meals (for an entire week for example) at a same time. You re-use the same ingredients in different recipes and you don’t waste the end of your cream bottle or the last eggs. It saves you time and money and reduces food waste.
• Other habits like buying in bulk or using dedicated apps to have access to restaurants leftovers are good habits to adopt.

In contrast, some habits should be modified. For example, don’t throw automatically out-of-date products. Some foods can be consumed without any risk after the expiration date. For instance, eating plain yogurt three weeks after its expiration does not expose you to any risk.

Try to get organized, plan your meals and shop consciously!

For more information, check out our Q&A about sustainable diets:

• What is a sustainable diet and why do we need it? 
• What needs to change in food production to help us achieve a sustainable diet? 

Sources:

• Willett W, Rockström J, Loken B, et al. Food in the Anthropocene: the EAT–Lancet Commission on healthy diets from sustainable food systems. Lancet. 2019;393(10170):447-492.

• FAO & WHO. Sustainable healthy diets guidelines principles. 2019.

• Global Nutrition report. 2018.

• FAO (2011). Global food losses and food waste – Extent, causes and prevention.

• Bajželj, B., et al. 2014. Importance of food-demand management for climate mitigation. Nature Climate Change, 4: 924–929.

• Food and Agriculture Organization, 2011.

• Vilariño, Franco and Quarrington. Food loss and Waste Reduction as an Integral Part of a Circular Economy. Frontiers in Nutrition. 2017.

• Von Massow, et al. Valuing the Multiple Impacts of Household Food Waste. Frontiers in Nutrition. 2019.

A prestigious prize for Alimentation to mid-career researchers

Since 2017 the Danone Institute International has given a new focus to its prestigious global prize for outstanding research in nutrition. In a far-reaching initiative to achieve ground-breaking benefits to the planet and human health, the prize is being opened to mid-career researchers in the field.

It will reward pioneering research that spans multiple disciplines and represents a major advance in Alimentation, the umbrella term for sustainable eating and drinking practices that contribute to the health of individuals, including food choice, purchase, preparation, cooking and meal organization, and their determinants.
The DIPA is awarded by the Danone Institute International* and the French research organization, Fondation pour la Recherche Médicale.

DIPA purpose

The purpose of the DIPA is to encourage and support cutting edge, innovative and multidisciplinary scientific research in Alimentation, the umbrella term for sustainable eating and drinking practices that contribute to the health of individuals, including food choice, purchase, preparation, cooking and meal organization, and their determinants. The award is intended to raise the profile of a mid-career researcher and accelerate his/her career, as well as help develop knowledge on the topic and inspire junior researchers.

The DIPA 100,000 Euros prize will recognize the work of a single researcher, or a representative of a research team, who is leading a pioneering and collaborative approach in Alimentation.
The Prize is open to research scientists from a variety of scientific disciplines within Alimentation, including behavioral science, sociology, anthropology, psychology, environmental science, economics, and cultural studies.
The DIPA aims to:

• advance understanding of Alimentation through cutting edge research;
• encourage and inspire pioneering advances that integrate lifestyle, cultural, socio-economic and environmental approaches into research on sustainable diets;
• boost collaboration between the different disciplines affecting nutrition, from anthropology to economics;
• support talented and highly motivated mid-career researchers whose work contributes to scientific excellence in the field of Alimentation

Call for Applications

The 2020 DIPA is open to applications until 16 October 2020.

Entries should be made initially as a summary of the applicants work and submitted to the Prize Committee. Short-listed applicants are then asked to prepare a full proposal for consideration by the Jury chaired by a leading international expert in the field of Alimentation.

For further details on entries for the DIPA, please see the Rules and Regulations at www.danoneinstitute.org

* The Danone Institute International  was established in 1991 as a not-for-profit organization aiming to promote human health through developing and disseminating knowledge about the links between food and health, and to highlight the importance of nutrition in health. The Danone Institute International is co-founder of Yogurt in Nutrition Initiative.

Organized during the ASN Nutrition Live 2020, the YINI Summit “Eating to protect our health and our planet” is now available in replay.

You can access to each video on the ASN Nutrition Live website :

• Introduction, by Shanon Donovan, PhD, RD (USA)
• Creating a sustainable food future: a menu of solutions to feed nearly 10 billion people by 2050, by Janet Ranganathan (USA)
• Healthy and sustainable diets: What do we learn from modeling studies? , by Pieter van’t Veer, PhD (the Netherlands)
• How to achieve sustainable healthy eating in practice?, by Jess Haines, PhD, MHSc, RD (Canada)
• Panel discussion, animated by Sharon Donovan, PhD, RD (USA) and Olivier Goulet MD (France)

As the world’s population grows, we face the challenge of ensuring there is enough food to feed us all while protecting the planet from the harmful effects of increased food production. Scientists are working hard to design healthy diets that could help put us on track for a sustainable food system that protects our environment.

One such approach was put forward recently by the EAT-Lancet Commission on Healthy Diets from Sustainable Food Systems (EAT-Lancet) which developed a global reference diet. The authors of this article have compared the EAT-Lancet recommendations with existing dietary guidance in the USA to see how closely matched they are in their advice on what people should be choosing to eat. They found some key differences, say the authors.

EAT-Lancet versus existing US dietary guidance

Most dietary guidelines, including the 2015–2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA), are based on nutritional needs and don’t consider environmental sustainability. This study compared the proposed EAT-Lancet diet with three DGA dietary patterns (healthy US-style, healthy vegetarian and healthy Mediterranean-style) on the basis of weight (grams) of foods.

EAT-Lancet recommends more whole grains than standard guidelines

The authors found that the EAT-Lancet and the DGA are similar in their recommendations for several food groups: vegetables, poultry, eggs, seafood, soy, beans and peas, dairy and unsaturated oils.

The EAT-Lancet recommends 1/4 to 1/3 more total grains than the DGA, with EAT-Lancet recommending only whole grains and the DGA allowing some refined grains. The DGA recommends more fruit and starchy vegetables than EAT-Lancet.

EAT-Lancet recommends much less red meat

But the big difference in advice between the guidelines concerns where we get the protein in our diet. The EAT-Lancet diet includes a lot more beans, peas, nuts and seeds, and recommends 80% less red meat than the DGA healthy US-style and healthy Mediterranean-style diets.

EAT-Lancet recommends less saturated fat and added sugars

Compared with the DGA, EAT-Lancet recommends that people eat much less saturated fat and added sugars. This may reflect the DGA’s recognition that the average American diet is far from ideal, and that health-based dietary recommendations need to be practical and achievable, say the authors.

Cultural differences and designing dietary guidelines

The DGA guidelines were developed for the US population and take into account the general eating habits and food choices of the US consumers. The guidelines aim to encourage dietary intake in ways that are easily adopted and can be sustained over time. This means making small or moderate changes, rather than large changes that many people could find difficult to stick with.

The EAT-Lancet reference diet is intended for worldwide use and has taken into account food consumption patterns in different countries. As well as describing the ideal diet, EAT-Lancet provides ranges of recommended amounts of the different food groups so that the guidance can be adopted by nations and cultures with differing preferences and food availability. At the moment, the authoers say “we don’t know how easily each country will be able to use these recommendations to ensure a nutritionally-balanced and sustainable dietary pattern locally”.

‘Analyses demonstrated that widespread adoption of this eating pattern [EAT-Lancet], in addition to curbing global food waste and improving the resource-use efficiency of agriculture, could put the food system on a sustainable trajectory by 2050.’ – Blackstone and Conrad, 2020.

Find out more: read the original article

Blackstone NT, Conrad Z. Comparing the recommended eating patterns of the EAT-Lancet Commission and Dietary Guidelines for Americans: Implications for sustainable nutrition. Curr Dev Nutr. 2020;4(3):nzaa015.