Good for the heart, good for the Earth: proposal of a dietary pattern able to optimize cardiovascular disease prevention and mitigate climate change

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

Human and planetary health are inextricably interconnected through food systems. Food choices account for 50% of all deaths for cardiovascular diseases (CVD) - the leading cause of death in Europe - and food systems generate up to 37% of total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

METHODS AND RESULTS

Based on a systematic revision of meta-analyses of prospective studies exploring the association between individual foods/food groups and the incidence of CVD, we identified a dietary pattern able to optimize CVD prevention.. This dietary pattern was compared to the current diet of the European population. The nutritional adequacy of both diets was evaluated according to the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) recommended nutrient intake for the adult population, and their environmental impact was evaluated in terms of carbon footprint (CF). As compared to the current diet, the desirable diet includes higher intakes of fruit, vegetables, wholegrains, low glycemic index (GI) cereals, nuts, legumes and fish, and lower amounts of beef, butter, high GI cereals or potatoes and sugar. The diet here identified provides appropriate intakes of all nutrients and matches better than the current Europeans' one the EFSA requirements. Furthermore, the CF of the proposed diet is 48.6% lower than that of the current Europeans' diet.

CONCLUSION

The transition toward a dietary pattern designed to optimize CVD prevention would improve the nutritional profile of the habitual diet in Europe and, at the same time, contribute to mitigate climate change by reducing the GHG emissions linked to food consumption almost by half.

True Cost Accounting of a healthy and sustainable diet in Italy

It is widely upheld that global food systems are unsustainable. Sustainable diets are gaining prominence as key components to entangle global food system challenges, as well as to transition towards the pathway of the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Hence, sustainable and healthy diets are at the core of much research with the aim to bring together nutritional adequacy, cultural acceptability, environmental sustainability, economic affordability, and shape future consumption patterns. This article contributes to advancing knowledge on sustainable diets by proposing a True Cost Accounting method to assess the cost and impact of the adoption of a more sustainable and healthier diet, using Italy as an illustration. The research analyses the complexity of a diet from an environmental, health, and socioeconomic point of view and defines a new assessment framework that can be replicated and adapted to other contexts. Results show that in Italy, the adoption of a sustainable and healthy diet has a 47% lower carbon footprint and 25% lower water footprint than the current diet, while impacting 13% less on the average income and food monthly expenditure. Also, the desirable diet has a 21% lower impact on the sanitary costs related to cardiovascular disease. This study corroborates that the consumption of the desirable diet would provide a total cost saving of 741 EUR per year per capita, if we consider its impact on the environment, health, and socio-economic costs.

Assessing the role of CAP for more sustainable and healthier food systems in Europe: A literature review

Today, the European food system is characterized by unhealthy dietary trends, environmentally unsustainable production, and a dependency on an ageing farming population. The ongoing reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) represents an opportunity to redress these issues. This literature review highlights trends in how academic and grey literature have received CAP attempts in addressing the (i) environmental issues, (ii) nutritional outcomes, and (iii) rural livelihoods. Additionally, future policy and research directions relating to the CAP have been identified from the selected literature. The reviewed literature varies in approach and perspective. In particular, since the environment and rural development are already part of the CAP, the reviewed studies analyze and propose improvements to existing mechanisms. While for nutrition, the reviewed studies assessed possible policy strategies for integrating this sphere within the CAP, highlighting both the complexity of this task as well as its potential benefits. Despite these differences, a clear commonality emerged from the policy recommendations: the CAP should promote the European Union (EU) policy integration and multi-disciplinary and participatory research as key strategies to meet food system sustainability targets.

From beans to bar: A life cycle assessment towards sustainable chocolate supply chain

The environmental sustainability has emerged as a crucial aspect in the agri-food sector, nevertheless environmental assessments and certifications of cocoa and chocolate are still missing. Given this gap and the increasing global demand for cocoa derivatives, this study aims to evaluate the environmental impacts of an Italian dark chocolate through a holistic cradle-to-grave Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). The impact categories assessed are acidification potential (AC), eutrophication potential (EU), global warming potential (GW), photochemical ozone creation potential (POC), ozone layer depletion potential (OD), abiotic depletion (AD) and cumulative energy demand (CED). The obtained results highlight the relevant contributions of upstream phase (63% for the ODP, 92% for EU and 99% for the AD) and core processes (39% for the GW and 49% for the CED) on the overall impacts. Specifically, cocoa provisioning and energy supply at the manufacturing plant emerged as environmental hotspots and have been deeper investigated through a sensitivity analysis. Obtained outcomes show the significant variability of the environmental impacts due to the agricultural phase (i.e., depending on agroecosystems and practices) and environmental benefits guaranteed by an efficient trigeneration system implemented in the manufacturing plant. The quantification of the environmental impacts of chocolate through LCA, the identification of the main hotspots along the supply chain and the sensitivity analysis performed in this study could effectively support chocolate companies in their pathway towards environmentally sustainable productions.