Sustainable nutrition between the poles of health and environment

Peer-reviewed | Manuscript received: July 10, 2014 | Revision accepted: November 06, 2014

Potentials of altered diets and avoidable food losses

Introduction

Food is a private matter. But not entirely; nutrition is also characterised by a substantial common welfare component. This is due to how deeply it is embedded in ecological cycles as well as due to prevailing diet-related disease burdens and corresponding healthcare costs. Nutrition is therefore a key issue of sustainable development. Production and consumption practices, but also political and cultural frameworks decide to what extent environmental and healthcare systems are influenced by the provision of foods and drinks.

Background: Benefits and costs of nutrition
Costs of diet-related diseases

Providing the population with an adequate supply of healthy and varied food is one of the main tasks of the agricultural and food sector. However, the increasing prevalence of western dietary patterns [7] has sparked debate about the increased risks not only to people’s health, but also to the environment. Western dietary patterns, which are also being adopted by more and more people in emerging and developing countries, generally lead to a quantitatively better supply for large population groups. On the other hand, the oversupply of calories and certain ingredients, such as saturated and trans-fats, haem-iron (primarily in red meat) as well as simple carbohydrates and salt, have been criticised for playing a major role in the development of chronic diseases. These include cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, certain cancers as well as diseases of the skeletal system [8]. Whereas infectious diseases are currently on the decline around the world, a large rise of chronic degenerative diseases is forecasted by 2030 [9].

Summary

This article provides a synopsis of the main research findings from the book “Environmental protection with knife and fork – the ecological rucksack of the nutrition in Germany” [“Umweltschutz mit Messer und Gabel – Der ökologische Rucksack der Ernährung in Deutschland”] [1], various peer-reviewed publications [2–5] as well as the underlying dissertation [6]. The first part of the article presents an overview of current challenges in the transdisciplinary field of nutrition, environment and public health. After a brief presentation of the methods, in the results section life cycle assessment results are presented on product and consumption levels and possible courses of action are derived. The final chapter discusses the courses of action identified and formulates recommendations for appropriate measures.

Keywords: life cycle assessment (LCA), National Nutrition Survey I + II, dietary recommendations, ovo-lacto-vegetarian, vegan, food losses, food wastages

Full text PDF (free access)