The water footprint of Austria for different diets

Educational Resources for Geoethical Aspects of Water Management

Global water resources are a critical value for the future of humankind. Conflicts and wars seem to rise because of such critical resources. While water-scarce countries are under extreme pressure on the long-term scale, also water-rich countries in Europe, such as Austria, face local conflicts of interest between water supply, tourism, agriculture, hydropower and ecology, for instance. Higher Education must address these conflicts and the new concepts of geoethics offer the conceptional thinking to do so. Based on educational resources for Higher Education that have been developed in the field of “Geoethics and Water Management” under the Erasmus+ co-funded project GOAL (Geoethics Outcomes and Awareness Learning), selected water-related conflicts are discussed. The cases selected for developing the educational resources are water use conflicts and geoethical aspects of hydropower plants. The educational resources include a subsequent procedure for applying them with students. Outcomes from the educational resources show that issues related to water management often create geoethical conflicts and dilemmas, and an interconnection between several Sustainable Development Goals can be established. Applying the educational resources shall enable geoscientists to contribute towards sustainable development of Earth’s future by a more holistic view.

The potential benefits of dietary shift in China: Synergies among acceptability, health, and environmental sustainability

The transition to a healthier diet recommended by national dietary guidelines in China may not achieve sufficient environmental benefits. This study assesses China's potential of transforming into a sustainable diet and the trade-offs among reducing food-related environmental impacts, improving nutritional quality and respecting eating habits. We used multi-objective optimization to build optimized scenarios, with the lowest environmental footprint and greatest acceptability (i.e., with the minimum departure from the currently observed diet) as optimization goals, and adequate macro- and micronutrient intake levels as constraints. In doing so, we assessed the actual benefits and synergies of reducing carbon footprint (CF), water footprint (WF), and ecological footprint (EF) and improving health and respecting dietary acceptance under the corresponding scenarios. The results show that CF, WF and EF can be reduced by up to 19%, 15% and 30% respectively, while satisfying nutritional constraints and achieving the minimum deviation from the current food combination. The greatest synergistic benefits for CF, WF and EF are achieved when the minimum CF is the optimization goal; the maximum synergistic benefits for the environment, health and acceptability are achieved when the CF is reduced by 10%. Our findings identify the trade-offs and synergies dietary changes considering nutritional benefits, environmental sustainability and acceptability, and reveal the challenges and opportunities for achieving such synergies.

Eat Well to Fight Obesity… and Save Water: The Water Footprint of Different Diets and Caloric Intake and Its Relationship With Adiposity

Water scarcity and excess adiposity are two of the main problems worldwide and in Mexico, which is the most obese country in the world and suffers from water scarcity. Food production represents 90% of a person's water footprint (WF), and healthy diets can lead to less WF than do unhealthy diets related to obesity. We calculated the WF of the diet and caloric intake of adults in Mexico and analyzed its relationship with adiposity. Also, the risk of water expenditure due to adiposity and adherence to dietary recommendations regarding WF of international healthy diets were examined. A Food Consumption Frequency Questionnaire (FCFQ) was applied to 395 adults. Body mass index (BMI), associated with adiposity indicators, was used as a reference for grouping a sample into adiposity levels. The WF was calculated according to the WF Assessment Method, considering correction factors and accounting for water involved in cooking and food washing. Our results showed that the Mexican diet spends 6,056 liters per person per day (L p-1d-1) and is 55% higher than international healthy diets WF. Consumption of beef, milk, fruits, chicken, and fatty cereals represented 56% of total WF. Strong relations appeared between hypercaloric diets and high WF. Diets of people with excess adiposity generated statistically higher WF with extra expenses of 729 L p-1d-1 compared with the normal adiposity population. Following nutritional recommendations offers a protective factor in water care, whereas not adhering to these represents a risk up to 93 times greater of water expenditure regarding international healthy diets. Therefore, both for the general population and to regulate obesity, adequate diets can help mitigate the problem of water scarcity.

Environmental assessment of menus for toddlers serviced at nursery canteen following the Atlantic diet recommendations

Menus served at public services can be considered as a good opportunity for consumers to demand a service that ensures healthy and environmentally friendly food. It is especially in the sector of nurseries and schools, where these demands make the most sense since they call for the protection of particularly vulnerable population: children. The purpose of this study is to analyze the biweekly menus served at a public Spanish nursery canteen considering the link with the two most recognized environmental indicators: the consumptive water footprint (WF) and the carbon footprint (CF). The WF and CF of the menus vary considerably between menus (619-1359 L·menu^-1 and 0.75-2.95 kg CO₂eq·menu^-1). The assessment has identified non-dairy sources of protein and dairy-based products as the key food categories in all menus. Menus with more meat (mostly beef) and dairy products (mainly cheese) were associated with higher impacts. That is, the average impact of menus with beef is about 2 times greater than the one of all other menus. The distribution and cooking stages presented negligible contributions in terms of greenhouse gases emissions, mainly due to the consumption of local/regional products and low-energy intensive cooking techniques. The most important strategy for reducing environmental impacts is based on reducing the frequency of consumption of beef, so that poultry and lean pork are consumed alternately. This reduction should not compromise the necessary protein intake for toddlers. Attention should also be paid to afternoon snacks that are rich in cold meat and dairy products. Considering these issues, significant reductions in WF and CF indicators could be achieved, up to 550 L·menu^-1 and 0.70 kg CO₂eq·menu^-1. Since eating habits introduced at an early stage are more likely to develop into adult behaviour, children canteen services are an excellent opportunity to promote healthy eating habits in children and their families.

An analytical framework to assess SDG targets within the context of WEFE nexus in the Mediterranean region

Understanding the complex relationships amongst Water, Energy, Food and Ecosystems (WEFE nexus) together with the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is critical for the development of a sustainable and secure future in the Mediterranean area. In this study, we analysed 29 case studies across the Mediterranean region which describe potential success stories for the implementation of good nexus practices. We developed an analytical framework for investigating the impacts on 15 SDG targets and we also explicitly quantified the magnitude of interconnection of nexus pillars with SDGs. Our findings showed that renewable energies have a predominant role on sustainability. Moreover, to achieve the highest positive impacts on economy, environment and society, it is necessary to ensure that both people and ecosystems benefit from a minimum amount of goods/qualities as expected by specific targets like SDG 6.1-4 (clean water and sanitation) and 15.1-3 (life on land), as well as 7.2-3 (affordable and clean energy) that are strongly linked with 13.1 (climate action). We showed also that the strongest interconections between SDG and WEFE are present for the categories of renewable energy system (RED and REW). However, the analysis showed that there is a tendency to focus on a specific sector (e.g. agriculture) and that the good nexus practices implementation is not enough to understand the achievement and progress towards the SDGs. For that reason, we recommended that a more holistic nexus approach including end of supply chain options should be systematically integrated into the project design or evaluation.

Water Resources for Sustainable Healthy Diets: State of the Art and Outlook

Sustainable healthy diets are high on the research and policy agendas. One of the crucial resources to provide such diets are water resources. This paper provides a brief overview of the current research state regarding this topic, with a focus on the water footprint concept, as latter quantifies water use along a supply chain. The water footprint (WF) quantifies blue and green water consumption, as both these water resources are essential for food and energy production as well as for the environment. Different kinds of information are embedded in a dietary WF and different data sources and modelling approaches exist, leading to WF dietary amounts that are not always directly comparable. A full sustainability assessment of a dietary WF encompasses three components: (1) an equity assessment of the total WF amount; (2) an efficiency assessment for each food item in the diet as well as (3) an impact assessment (blue water stress and green water scarcity) for each food item in the diet. The paper concludes with an outlook on future research on the topic, listing the following points: (1) future clarity in system boundary and modelling assumptions, with comparison of results between different approaches; (2) full sustainability assessments including all three components; (3) dietary footprint family assessments with the WF as one member; (4) WF assessments for multiple dietary regimes with support to the development of local dietary guidelines and (5) assessment of the synergies with LCA-based mid-point (scarcity-weighted WF) and end-point (especially human health) indicators and evaluation of the validity and empirical significance of these two indicators

Is the Sustainable Choice a Healthy Choice?-Water Footprint Consequence of Changing Dietary Patterns

It is evident that the modification of dietary patterns is a necessary precondition of disease prevention and health improvement. Changing nutritional habits also has deep-rooted consequences on the environmental burden. The majority of similar previous studies have analyzed the change in greenhouse gas emissions against theoretical modifications in current food consumption. The analysis on the effect of diet on the water footprint is also gaining in importance, since water supply is a critical global issue. Based on current nutritional patterns of a Central European country-Hungary-as well as dietary recommendations and scientific literature, we generated six dietary scenarios and determined the consequences of these on green (originally from precipitation) and blue (sourced from surface or groundwater) water consumption and dietary quality. Compared to the baseline scenario (current local nutritional pattern) of both genders, based on the integrated aspect of water footprint and dietary quality, the most disadvantageous scenario was the ketogenic (ca. -2% in dietary quality, +18% in blue water footprint, and +16% in green water footprint) and the most advantageous was the sustainable scenario (ca. +9% in dietary quality, -42% in green water footprint, and -29% in blue water footprint). As a summary it can be stated, that (1) there is no clear linear relationship between the "healthiness" and water footprint of different diets, but (2) a more balanced diet, which integrates nutritional and environmental considerations could decrease the environmental burden in an efficient way.

Tracking the environmental footprints of institutional restaurant service in nursery schools

When dietary habits are analyzed in the framework of school catering services, nutritional indicators are essential criteria in the definition of menus, but attention should also be paid to the associated environmental impacts. It is especially relevant to assess food patterns in nursery schools when consumption habits are most strongly implemented, and they must be healthy and sustainable. With the aim of evaluating the main environmental indicators: Carbon and water footprints (CF and WF), ten menus consisting of lunch and afternoon snack were evaluated, which comprise a wide range of food categories (fruits and vegetables, starch-based products, milk and milk products, non-dairy sources of protein, and others). The CF of the menus varied considerably according to their composition, with beef-rich menus having the worst profile (up to 2.24 kg CO₂/menu and 0.39 kg CO₂/100 kcal). Regarding the WF, meals rich on animal-based products also entailed water implications and mainly associated with the consumption of beef. Green WF and blue WF are responsible for 88% of the contributions to this indicator, on average. The WF indicator reaches up to 1271 L·menu^-1 and 223 L/100 kcal for a menu containing beef meat. This study confirms the effect on CF and WF from animal-based products, specifically beef meat and dairy products. The findings of the study can be useful to make recommendations not only to consumers on reducing the environmental impacts from food production and consumption, but also to design balanced menus with better environmental scores based on the combination of low and high footprint food products, always providing the necessary energy and nutrients, an unquestionable issue in toddlers and pre-school children whose need to follow balanced and healthy diets, being meat an important foodstuff.

Dietary recommendations in Spain -affordability and environmental sustainability?

Global food demand is increasing due to population growth and dietary transitions, resulting from rising incomes, are associated with increased prevalence of non-communicable diseases. Improving the sustainability of the food sector is also critical for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. This study assesses for the first time the greenhouse gases emissions (Carbon Footprint - CF), the water footprint (WF) and the cost of three omnivorous diets recommended in Spain due to their health benefits: the Mediterranean diet (MD), the Southern European Atlantic diet (SEAD) and the Spanish dietary guidelines (NAOS). Analysis was conducted using standard Life Cycle Assessment and WF methods together with current Spanish food price data. The dietary energy recommendation of the SEAD is greater than that of MD and NAOS (11 and 15% respectively), and SEAD also has greater animal source food content than the other two diets. SEAD has a concomitantly higher CF, WF and cost scores in comparison with MD (+30%, +23% and +21% respectively) and NAOS (+15%, +9% and +21% respectively). Adjusting recommendations to meet the suggested Spanish adult dietary energy of 2228 kcal.capita-1.day-1 changed the environmental profiles of the diets and the NAOS has the highest environmental impact. However, the isocaloric diets had approximately the same cost. Analysis of the WF of the diets identified the major contribution of precipitation (the green WF) to the overall WF (88% of the total) and the significant contribution of animal-source foods to dietary WF. Regardless of the dietary scenario, better scores were identified for the Spanish recommendations analysed than those reported for other healthy diets identified in Europe. Differences in the recommended intake levels of certain food groups, cooking techniques and the origin of food products are behind these results. Environmental indicators should be considered alongside nutrition and health metrics when defining national dietary guidelines. Supporting citizens to follow healthy and environmentally-friendly dietary recommendations through, among other things, information campaigns and nutritional education programmes is essential. It is recommended the incorporation not only of health, but also of environmental indicators of these dietary options in the national dietary guidelines, as well as implementation of information campaigns and nutritional education programs among citizens to promote their adhesion since balanced dietary habits rich on plant-based products and low on animal-based ones involve multiple health and environmental benefits.

Dietary recommendations in Spain -affordability and environmental sustainability?

Global food demand is increasing due to population growth and dietary transitions, resulting from rising incomes, are associated with increased prevalence of non-communicable diseases. Improving the sustainability of the food sector is also critical for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. This study assesses for the first time the greenhouse gases emissions (Carbon Footprint - CF), the water footprint (WF) and the cost of three omnivorous diets recommended in Spain due to their health benefits: the Mediterranean diet (MD), the Southern European Atlantic diet (SEAD) and the Spanish dietary guidelines (NAOS). Analysis was conducted using standard Life Cycle Assessment and WF methods together with current Spanish food price data. The dietary energy recommendation of the SEAD is greater than that of MD and NAOS (11 and 15% respectively), and SEAD also has greater animal source food content than the other two diets. SEAD has a concomitantly higher CF, WF and cost scores in comparison with MD (+30%, +23% and +21% respectively) and NAOS (+15%, +9% and +21% respectively). Adjusting recommendations to meet the suggested Spanish adult dietary energy of 2228 kcal.capita^-1.day^-1 changed the environmental profiles of the diets and the NAOS has the highest environmental impact. However, the isocaloric diets had approximately the same cost. Analysis of the WF of the diets identified the major contribution of precipitation (the green WF) to the overall WF (88% of the total) and the significant contribution of animal-source foods to dietary WF. Regardless of the dietary scenario, better scores were identified for the Spanish recommendations analysed than those reported for other healthy diets identified in Europe. Differences in the recommended intake levels of certain food groups, cooking techniques and the origin of food products are behind these results. Environmental indicators should be considered alongside nutrition and health metrics when defining national dietary guidelines. Supporting citizens to follow healthy and environmentally-friendly dietary recommendations through, among other things, information campaigns and nutritional education programmes is essential. It is recommended the incorporation not only of health, but also of environmental indicators of these dietary options in the national dietary guidelines, as well as implementation of information campaigns and nutritional education programs among citizens to promote their adhesion since balanced dietary habits rich on plant-based products and low on animal-based ones involve multiple health and environmental benefits.

The Water Footprint of Diets: A Global Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Agricultural water requirements differ between foods. Population-level dietary preferences are therefore a major determinant of agricultural water use. The "water footprint" (WF) represents the volume of water consumed in the production of food items, separated by water source; blue WF represents ground and surface water use, and green WF represents rain water use. We systematically searched for published studies using the WF to assess the water use of diets. We used the available evidence to quantify the WF of diets in different countries, and grouped diets in patterns according to study definition. "Average" patterns equated to those currently consumed, whereas "healthy" patterns included those recommended in national dietary guidelines. We searched 7 online databases and identified 41 eligible studies that reported the dietary green WF, blue WF, or total WF (green plus blue) (1964 estimates for 176 countries). The available evidence suggests that, on average, European (170 estimates) and Oceanian (18 estimates) dietary patterns have the highest green WFs (median per capita: 2999 L/d and 2924 L/d, respectively), whereas Asian dietary patterns (98 estimates) have the highest blue WFs (median: 382 L/d per capita). Foods of animal origin are major contributors to the green WFs of diets, whereas cereals, fruits, nuts, and oils are major contributors to the blue WF of diets. "Healthy" dietary patterns (425 estimates) had green WFs that were 5.9% (95% CI: -7.7, -4.0) lower than those of "average" dietary patterns, but they did not differ in their blue WFs. Our review suggests that changes toward healthier diets could reduce total water use of agriculture, but would not affect blue water use. Rapid dietary change and increasing water security concerns underscore the need for a better understanding of the amount and type of water used in food production to make informed policy decisions.

Environmental footprint family to address local to planetary sustainability and deliver on the SDGs

The number of publications on environmental footprint indicators has been growing rapidly, but with limited efforts to integrate different footprints into a coherent framework. Such integration is important for comprehensive understanding of environmental issues, policy formulation and assessment of trade-offs between different environmental concerns. Here, we systematize published footprint studies and define a family of footprints that can be used for the assessment of environmental sustainability. We identify overlaps between different footprints and analyse how they relate to the nine planetary boundaries and visualize the crucial information they provide for local and planetary sustainability. In addition, we assess how the footprint family delivers on measuring progress towards Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), considering its ability to quantify environmental pressures along the supply chain and relating them to the water-energy-food-ecosystem (WEFE) nexus and ecosystem services. We argue that the footprint family is a flexible framework where particular members can be included or excluded according to the context or area of concern. Our paper is based upon a recent workshop bringing together global leading experts on existing environmental footprint indicators.

Vegetarian Diets: Planetary Health and Its Alignment with Human Health

To maintain planetary health, human activities must limit the use of Earth's resources within finite boundaries and avoid environmental degradation. At present, food systems account for a substantial use of natural resources and contribute considerably to climate change, degradation of land, water use, and other impacts, which in turn threaten human health through food insecurity. Additionally, current dietary patterns, rich in animal products and excessive in calories, are detrimental to both population and planetary health. In order to resolve the diet-environment-health trilemma, population-level dietary changes are essential. Vegetarian diets are reported to be healthy options. Most plant-sourced foods are less resource intense and taxing on the environment than the production of animal-derived foods, particularly meat and dairy from ruminants. This review article explores simultaneously the environmental sustainability of vegetarian diets, and its alignment with people's health. In general, the progression from omnivorous to ovolactovegetarian and vegan diets is associated with increased environmental sustainability. Greenhouse gas emissions resulting from vegan and ovolactovegetarian diets are ∼50% and ∼35% lower, respectively, than most current omnivore diets, and with corresponding reductions in the use of natural resources. Concomitant health benefits could be obtained by shifting from current dietary patterns to sustainable vegetarian diets. Thus, there seems to be an alignment of health and environmental outcomes for vegetarian diets. Although this shows the human health and environmental sustainability benefits of vegetarian diets in high-income countries, questions remain about the challenges in other contexts and the political will to promote meat-free diets as the social norm.

Healthy diet: a step toward a sustainable diet by reducing water footprint

BACKGROUND

This paper aims to assess different scenarios that reduce water use by following healthy diet recommendations. In this study, a food frequency questionnaire was used to assess the usual food intake of a sample of 723 individuals, aged 20-64 years, from Urmia, Iran. In order to calculate water use for production of food items, the water footprint method was applied. A linear programming technique was used to find a healthy diet with low blue water footprint in three scenarios.

RESULTS

The biggest decline in water use compared with real intake (57%) was found in scenario 1, where the model-generated consider energy intake equal to usual energy intake. In scenario 2, in which the proportion of each food group was allowed to be in accordance with the Iranian food pyramid, the reduction in water use was less than for scenario 1 (47%). In scenario 3, where the Recommended Dietary Allowance values were also added to the set of model restrictions, the water usage was 51% of the real diet.

CONCLUSION

A healthy diet with greater proportion of energy from fruit and dairy instead of a diet with high proportion of energy from 'meat-fish-poultry-eggs' and 'bread-cereal-rice-pasta' can supply all Recommended Dietary Allowances while reducing water use. © 2019 Society of Chemical Industry.

Dietary Strategies to Reduce Environmental Impact: A Critical Review of the Evidence Base

The food system is a major source of environmental impact, and dietary change has been recommended as an important and necessary strategy to reduce this impact. However, assessing the environmental performance of diets is complex due to the many types of foods eaten and the diversity of agricultural production systems and local environmental settings. To assess the state of science and identify knowledge gaps, an integrative review of the broad topic of environment and diet was undertaken, with particular focus on the completeness of coverage of environmental concerns and the metrics used. Compared with the 14 discrete environmental areas of concern identified in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, the located journal literature mainly addressed greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and, to a lesser extent, land and water use. Some relevant concerns were rarely addressed or not addressed at all. In the case of GHG emissions, changes in land use and soil carbon stocks were seldom considered. This represents a disconnect between the science informing strategic climate action in the agricultural sector and the science informing public health nutrition. In the case of land and water use, few studies used metrics that are appropriate in a life-cycle context. Some metrics produce inherently biased results, which misinform about environmental impact. The limited evidence generally points to recommended diets having lower environmental impacts than typical diets, although not in every case. This is largely explained by the overconsumption of food energy associated with average diets, which is also a major driver of obesity. A shared-knowledge framework is identified as being needed to guide future research on this topic. Until the evidence base becomes more complete, commentators on sustainable diets should not be quick to assume that a dietary strategy to reduce overall environmental impact can be readily defined or recommended.

The water use of Indian diets and socio-demographic factors related to dietary blue water footprint

Agriculture accounts for ~90% of India's fresh water use, and there are concerns that future food production will be threatened by insufficient water supply of adequate quality. This study aimed to quantify the water required in the production of diets in India using the water footprint (WF) assessment method. The socio-demographic associations of dietary WFs were explored using mixed effects regression models with a particular focus on blue (irrigation) WF given the importance for Indian agriculture. Dietary data from ~7000 adults living in India were matched to India-specific WF data for food groups to quantify the blue and green (rainfall) WF of typical diets. The mean blue and green WF of diets was 737l/capita/day and 2531l/capita/day, respectively. Vegetables had the lowest WFs per unit mass of product, while roots/tubers had the lowest WFs per unit dietary energy. Poultry products had the greatest blue WFs. Wheat and rice contributed 31% and 19% of the dietary blue WF respectively. Vegetable oils were the highest contributor to dietary green WF. Regional variation in dietary choices meant large differences in dietary blue WFs, whereby northern diets had nearly 1.5 times greater blue WFs than southern diets. Urban diets had a higher blue WF than rural diets, and a higher standard of living was associated with larger dietary blue WFs. This study provides a novel perspective on the WF of diets in India using individual-level dietary data, and demonstrates important variability in WFs due to different food consumption patterns and socio-demographic characteristics. Future dietary shifts towards patterns currently consumed by individuals in higher income groups, would likely increase irrigation requirements putting substantial pressure on India's water resources.

Assessment of diet-related GHG emissions using the environmental hourglass approach for the Mediterranean and new Nordic diets

Food production and preparation affect the environment in many ways, with effects on greenhouse gases, use of land, biodiversity, etc. The impact is influenced by consumer demand and eating habits. Two different recommended dietary models were considered, the Mediterranean Diet and the New Nordic Diet, with quantitative analysis of GHG emissions through LCA. An environmental hourglass (EH) approach based on LCA was introduced to help translate health-promoting dietary recommendations that consider regional circumstances and cultural diversity into practical eating habits, to promote sustainable and environmentally friendly consumption. Using the environmental hourglass approach, we examined whether dietary choices based on nutritional recommendations can minimise certain negative effects on the food production environment. Using two examples of health-enhancing, regionally-oriented and culturally appropriate dietary patterns - the Mediterranean Diet and the New Nordic Diet - we showed that consumption of high protein foods has a similar and comparable environmental impact to fruit and vegetable consumption. The results of this work may provide a starting point for integrated policy addressing issues related to the healthy diet of the population, aware food choices and sustainable agriculture.

Water consumption related to different diets in Mediterranean cities

Providing the sustainable development goals (SDGs) water, food and energy security to cities relies strongly on resource use outside city borders. Many modern cities have recently invested in a sustainable urban water system, and score high in international city rankings regarding water management and direct urban water use. However, these rankings generally neglect external resource use for cities. Here we quantify the water resources related to food consumption in thirteen cities located in Mediterranean countries, by means of the water footprint (WF) concept. These WFs amount from 3277l per capita per day (l/cap/d) to 5789l/cap/d. These amounts are about thirty times higher than their direct urban water use. We additionally analyse the WF of three diet scenarios, based upon a Mediterranean dietary pattern. Many authors identify the Mediterranean diet as cultural heritage, being beneficial for human health and a model for a sustainable food system. The first diet scenario, a healthy Mediterranean diet including meat, leads to WF reductions of -19% to -43%. The second diet scenario (pesco-vegetarian), leads to WF reductions of -28% to -52%. The third diet scenario (vegetarian), leads to WF reductions of -30% to -53%. In other words, if urban citizens want to save water, they need to look at their diets.

Operationalising the health aspects of sustainable diets: a review

OBJECTIVE

Shifting towards a more sustainable food consumption pattern is an important strategy to mitigate climate change. In the past decade, various studies have optimised environmentally sustainable diets using different methodological approaches. The aim of the present review was to categorise and summarise the different approaches to operationalise the health aspects of environmentally sustainable diets.

DESIGN

Conventional keyword and reference searches were conducted in PubMed, Scopus, Web of Knowledge and CAB Abstracts. Inclusion criteria were: (i) English-language publication; (ii) published between 2005 and October 2015; (iii) dietary data collected for the diet as a whole at the national, household or individual level; (iv) comparison of the current diet with dietary scenarios; and (v) for results to consider the health aspect in some way.

SETTING

Consumer diets.

SUBJECTS

Adult population.

RESULTS

We reviewed forty-nine studies that combined the health and environmental aspects of consumer diets. Hereby, five approaches to operationalise the health aspect of the diet were identified: (i) food item replacements; (ii) dietary guidelines; (iii) dietary quality scores; (iv) diet modelling techniques; and (v) diet-related health impact analysis.

CONCLUSIONS

Although the sustainability concept is increasingly popular and widely advocated by nutritional and environmental scientists, the journey towards designing sustainable diets for consumers has only just begun. In the context of operationalising the health aspects, diet modelling might be considered the preferred approach since it captures the complexity of the diet as a whole. For the future, we propose SHARP diets: environmentally Sustainable (S), Healthy (H), Affordable (A), Reliable (R) and Preferred from the consumer's perspective (P).

The Impacts of Dietary Change on Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Land Use, Water Use, and Health: A Systematic Review

Food production is a major driver of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, water and land use, and dietary risk factors are contributors to non-communicable diseases. Shifts in dietary patterns can therefore potentially provide benefits for both the environment and health. However, there is uncertainty about the magnitude of these impacts, and the dietary changes necessary to achieve them. We systematically review the evidence on changes in GHG emissions, land use, and water use, from shifting current dietary intakes to environmentally sustainable dietary patterns. We find 14 common sustainable dietary patterns across reviewed studies, with reductions as high as 70–80% of GHG emissions and land use, and 50% of water use (with medians of about 20–30% for these indicators across all studies) possible by adopting sustainable dietary patterns. Reductions in environmental footprints were generally proportional to the magnitude of animal-based food restriction. Dietary shifts also yielded modest benefits in all-cause mortality risk. Our review reveals that environmental and health benefits are possible by shifting current Western diets to a variety of more sustainable dietary patterns.

The climatic impact of food consumption in a representative sample of Irish adults and implications for food and nutrition policy

Objective

To evaluate the greenhouse gas emissions (GHGE) associated with the diet of Irish adults.

Design

GHGE were estimated by applying conversion factors to habitual food consumption data taken from the National Adult Nutrition Survey, which was representative of the population. Descriptive analyses were undertaken for GHGE for the total population, as well as accounting for energy misreporting and across categories of sociodemographic and socio-economic factors and tertiles of emissions.

Setting

Republic of Ireland.

Subjects

Adults aged 18–87 years (n1500).

Results

The GHGE derived from daily dietary intakes was estimated as 6·5 kg of CO2equivalents (CO2eq) per person. Males, younger consumers, those with secondary education and student employment status were associated with significantly higher GHGE. Red meat was the highest contributor to GHGE with 1646 g CO2eq arising from a mean intake of 47 g/d. Dairy and starchy staples were the next largest dietary GHGE sources, with mean daily emissions of 732 g CO2eq and 647 g CO2eq, respectively. The lowest emissions were associated with consumption of vegetables, fruits and legumes/pulses/nuts.

Conclusions

Based on profiling using actual food consumption data, it is evident that one single measure is not sufficient and a range of evidence-based mitigation measures with potential to lower emissions throughout the food chain should be considered. The research contributes towards an improved understanding of the climatic impact of the dietary intakes of Irish adults and can serve to inform a sustainability framework to guide action in food and nutrition policy development.

Urban food consumption and associated water resources: The example of Dutch cities

Full self-sufficiency in cities is a major concern. Cities import resources for food, water and energy security. They are however key to global sustainability, as they concentrate a rapidly increasing and urbanising population (or number of consumers). In this paper, we analysed the dependency of urban inhabitants on the resource water for food consumption, by means of Dutch cities. We found that in extremely urbanised municipalities like Amsterdam and Rotterdam, people eat more meat and cereals and less potatoes than in other Dutch municipalities. Their current water footprint (WF) related to food consumption is therefore higher (3245l/cap/day) than in strongly urbanised cities (3126l/cap/day). Dutch urban citizens who eat too many animal products, crop oils and sugar can reduce their WF (with 29 to 32%) by shifting to a healthier diet. Recommended less meat consumption has the largest impact on the total WF reduction. A shift to a pesco-vegetarian or vegetarian diet would require even less water resources, where the WF can be reduced by 36 to 39% and 40 to 42% respectively. Dutch cities such as Amsterdam have always scored very high in international sustainability rankings for cities, partly due to a long history in integrated (urban) water management in the Netherlands. We argue that such existing rankings only show a certain - undoubtedly very important - part of urban environmental sustainability. To communicate the full picture to citizens, stakeholders and policy makers, indicators on external resource usage need to be employed. The fact that external resource dependency can be altered through changing dietary behaviour should be communicated.

A Systematic Review of the Measurement of Sustainable Diets

Sustainability has become an integral consideration of the dietary guidelines of many countries in recent decades. However, a lack of clear metrics and a shared approach to measuring the multiple components of sustainable diets has hindered progress toward generating the evidence needed to ensure the credibility of new guidelines. We performed a systematic literature review of empirical research studies on sustainable diets to identify the components of sustainability that were measured and the methods applied to do so. Two independent reviewers systematically searched 30 databases and other sources with the use of a uniform set of search terms and a priori exclusion criteria. In total, 113 empirical studies were included in the final review. Nearly all of the studies were focused on high-income countries. Although there was substantial heterogeneity in the components of sustainability measured, the estimated greenhouse gas emissions (GHGEs) of various dietary patterns were by far most commonly measured (n = 71 studies). Estimating the GHGEs of foods through various stages of production, use, and recycling with the use of the Life Cycle Assessment approach was the most common method applied to measure the environmental impacts of diets (n = 49 studies). Many components of sustainable diets identified in existing conceptual frameworks are disproportionately underrepresented in the empirical literature, as are studies that examine consumer demand for sustainable dietary alternatives. The emphasis in the literature on high-income countries also overlooks the production and dietary alternatives most relevant to low- and middle-income countries. We propose 3 methodological and measurement approaches that would both improve the global relevance of our understanding of sustainable diets and attend more completely to the existing multidimensional, multiscale conceptual framing of sustainable diets.

What current literature tells us about sustainable diets: emerging research linking dietary patterns, environmental sustainability, and economics

The concept of sustainable diets, although not new, is gaining increased attention across the globe, especially in relation to projected population growth and growing concerns about climate change. As defined by the FAO (Proceedings of the International Scientific Symposium, Biodiversity and Sustainable Diets 2010; FAO 2012), "Sustainable diets are those diets with low environmental impacts which contribute to food and nutrition security and to healthy life for present and future generations." Consistent and credible science that brings together agriculture, food systems, nutrition, public health, environment, economics, culture, and trade is needed to identify synergies and trade-offs and to inform guidance on vital elements of healthy, sustainable diets. The aim of this article is to review the emerging research on environmental and related economic impacts of dietary patterns, including habitual eating patterns, nutritionally balanced diets, and a variety of different dietary scenarios. Approaches to research designs, methodologies, and data sources are compared and contrasted to identify research gaps and future research needs. To date, it is difficult to assimilate all of the disparate approaches, and more concerted efforts for multidisciplinary studies are needed.

Driving force analysis of the agricultural water footprint in China based on the LMDI method

China's water scarcity problems have become more severe because of the unprecedented economic development and population explosion. Considering agriculture's large share of water consumption, obtaining a clear understanding of Chinese agricultural consumptive water use plays a key role in addressing China's water resource stress and providing appropriate water mitigation policies. We account for the Chinese agricultural water footprint from 1990 to 2009 based on bottom up approach. Then, the underlying driving forces are decomposed into diet structure effect, efficiency effect, economic activity effect, and population effect, and analyzed by applying a log-mean Divisia index (LMDI) model. The results reveal that the Chinese agricultural water footprint has risen from the 94.1 Gm3 in 1990 to 141 Gm3 in 2009. The economic activity effect is the largest positive contributor to promoting the water footprint growth, followed by the population effect and diet structure effect. Although water efficiency improvement as a significant negative effect has reduced overall water footprint, the water footprint decline from water efficiency improvement cannot compensate for the huge increase from the three positive driving factors. The combination of water efficiency improvement and dietary structure adjustment is the most effective approach for controlling the Chinese agricultural water footprint's further growth.

Potential water saving through changes in European diets

This study quantifies the water footprint of consumption (WFcons) regarding agricultural products for three diets - the current diet (REF), a healthy diet (HEALTHY) and a vegetarian diet (VEG) - for the four EU zones WEST, NORTH, SOUTH and EAST. The WFcons related to the consumption of agricultural products (4265l per capita per day or lcd) accounts for 89% of the EU's total WFcons (4815lcd). The effect of diet has therefore an essential impact on the total WFcons. The current zonal WFcons regarding agricultural products is: 5875lcd (SOUTH), 4053lcd (EAST), 3761lcd (WEST) and 3197lcd (NORTH). These differences are the result of different consumption behaviours as well as different agricultural production methods and conditions. From the perspective of a healthy diet based on regional dietary guidelines, the intake of several product groups (sugar, crop oils, animal fats and meat) should be decreased and increased for others (vegetables, fruit). The WFcons regarding agricultural products for the alternative diets are the following: HEALTHY 4110lcd (-30%) and VEG 3476lcd (-41%) for SOUTH; HEALTHY 3606lcd (-11%) and VEG 2956lcd (-27%) for EAST; HEALTHY 2766lcd (-26%) and VEG 2208lcd (-41%) for WEST; HEALTHY 3091lcd (-3%) and VEG 2166lcd (-32%) for NORTH. Both the healthy and vegetarian diets thus result - consistent for all zones - in substantial WFcons reductions. The largest reduction takes place for the vegetarian diet. Indeed, a lot of water can be saved by EU citizens by a change in their diet.