Sustainability indicators for foods benefiting climate and healthShow others and affiliations
2021 (English)In: Sustainability, E-ISSN 2071-1050, Vol. 13, no 7, article id 3621
Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
New methods for combined evaluation of nutritional and environmental aspects of food products are needed to enable a transformation of dietary guidelines integrating both health and environmental perspectives. We evaluated two sustainability aspects; nutrition and climate im-pact, of foods commonly consumed in Sweden and the implications of using parallel or integrated assessments of these two aspects, also discussing the usability and suitability of these food sustain-ability indicators in relation to Swedish dietary guidelines, industry food product development, and consumer communication. There were large differences in both nutrient density and climate impact among the different foods. The parallel assessment easily visualized synergies and trade-offs between these two sustainability aspects for the different foods. Coherence with dietary guidelines was good, and suitability and usability deemed satisfying. The integrated indicator showed better coherence with dietary guidelines than indicators based solely on nutrient density or climate impact; however, the difficulty to interpret the score limits its usability in product development and consumer communication. With both methods, advantageous as well as less advantageous plant-based and animal-based food alternatives were suggested. The two alternative methods evaluated could serve as useful tools to drive individual and societal development towards more sustainable food production and consumption. © 2021 by the authors.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
MDPI AG , 2021. Vol. 13, no 7, article id 3621
Keywords [en]
Carbon dioxide equivalents, Climate impact, LCA, Nutrient density index, Nutritional profiling, Sustainability indicators, climate change, climate effect, consumption behavior, food product, food production, guideline, nature-society relations, product development, public health, sustainability, trade-off, transformation, Sweden, Indicator indicator
National Category
Food Science
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:ri:diva-52966DOI: 10.3390/su13073621Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85103828101OAI: oai:DiVA.org:ri-52966DiVA, id: diva2:1546216
Note
Funding details: R-18-26-133; Funding details: Svenska Forskningsrådet Formas, FR-2019/0007; Funding text 1: Funding: This research was funded by grants from The Swedish Foundation for Agricultural Research (grant no R-18-26-133), and The Swedish Research Council for Environment, Agricultural Sciences and Spatial Planning (Formas, grant no FR-2019/0007). The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results.; Funding text 2: This research was funded by grants from The Swedish Foundation for Agricultural Research (grant no R-18-26-133), and The Swedish Research Council for Environment, Agricultural Sciences and Spatial Planning (Formas, grant no FR-2019/0007). The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results. Data Availability Statement: Climate impact data described in the manuscript will not be madeThe authors want to acknowledge Anna Karin Lindroos at the Swedish National Food Agency, for providing unpublished data on added sugar for relevant food products and updated nutrient content information on enriched oat drink. Participants from participating companies Susanne Larson (IKEA), Ulrika Gunnerud (Fazer), Anna-Karin Modin Edman (Arla Foods), Christer Ros?n (Kron?gg) and Rebecka Persson (Orkla Foods) should be acknowledged as well for their assistance in suggesting more recent food products to analyze, as well as for their part in the discussion of the usability and suitability of the proposed methods.
2021-04-212021-04-212023-06-08Bibliographically approved