Background As the world population grows to 9.1 billion people, there is a need to feed all of these people. Agriculture will need to produce more food to feed the world. Agriculture is pressured by climate change with droughts and changes in seasonal patterns and needs to adapt to these changes. For nutritionists, there is a need to address non-communicable chronic diseases, such as obesity and diabetes. These diseases are highly problematic in the developed parts of the world. Additionally, addressing food security is also an issue as part of the world, a large portion of developing countries, experience hunger and diseases related to not having adequate nutritious foods. Sustainable diets are working to address the issues mentioned above. This idea of having a sustainable diet is not new and dates back to a 1986 commentary by Gussow and Clancy. However, it was later in 2010, that a definition was developed by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). This general definition has provided research with a focus on what a sustainable diet is and which food groups are parts of a sustainable diet. Purpose The purpose of this study was to learn about the current knowledge of sustainable diets through conducting a search of peer-reviewed literature about what sustainable diets are and what foods are included. Finally, this study assessed what nutrition educators know about and what their perceptions are of sustainable diets. Methods A literature search was conducted using several databases, including PubMed and EBSCO Host, yielding a few thousand results. After reviewing the literature, questions were developed for a focus group (n=8 participants), interviews (n=9 participants), and a short survey (n=54 participants). The project participants were from the University of Arizona’s Department of Nutritional Sciences, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Education Program (SNAP-Ed) and the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP). Participants were asked to participate in one of the session: focus group, interview, or short survey. Results Participants from the focus group and interviews indicated that there was potential for people to be healthy by participating in sustainable diet activities. There also was concern about cost of sustainable diets. Sustainable diets need to be culturally acceptable to get consumers to practice them. Finally, eating seasonally was important component of a sustainable diet. If nutrition educators were asked to teach sustainable diets to others many felt they need more information or resources on sustainable diets or need to research the topic. Participants in the short surveys indicated concerns about costs, nutritional adequacy and showed mixed results when asked about what foods would be part of a sustainable diet. Educators who took the survey also showed great interest in having more education to learn about sustainable diets. Conclusions Nutrition educators have concerns about sustainable diets, such as being nutritionally adequate and affordable to all people. Educators in the focus group and interviews showed that there is potential for people to be healthy by following sustainable dietary practices, like gardening. However, there seemed to be a need for more education on sustainable diets. Nutrition educators have limited knowledge of sustainable diets. Some have an idea of what sustainable diets are, while others have stated that they have not heard of sustainable diets. Nutrition educators surveyed show a great interest in attending a seminar, if offered, on this topic. In summary, sustainable diets are gaining attention of nutrition educators, especially if sustainability and food become part of the new dietary guidelines. A need for providing sustainable diet education to nutrition educators will be part of the future. Further research on knowledge of nutrition educators on different components of sustainable diets and development of an educational curriculum is necessary.

Replacing meat from animals with cultured meat and edible insects might reduce the impact on climate and the environment. That said, in order to fulfill their function as a sustainable food, insects and cultured meat would need to be consumed, on a wider scale and with a real-time reduction in meat consumption.   The aim of this study was to explore consumers' attitudes toward consuming insects and cultured meat, whilst gathering an understanding of what consumers, themselves, believe to be acceptable to consume in the future. Fifteen individual semi-structured interviews, of both men and women, were conducted outside a supermarket in central Sweden. Data was transcribed and analyzed thematically. The results highlight that for some respondents, insects are perceived as alien and undesirable, while cultured meat was perceived as too unnatural to be eaten; whilst others expressed both reluctance and a curiosity towards cultured meat and edible insects. Most respondents believed they will eat less meat, more vegetables and vegetarian protein in the future, and might try insects and cultured meat in hidden forms such as in sausage. The conclusion was that consumers had a mixed attitude toward eating insects and cultured meat. / Enligt FN och FAO måste matvanorna i västvärlden ändras eftersom de inte är hållbara. Jordbruket orsakar utsläpp av stora mängder växthusgaser, och köttproduktionen står för den allra största delen av dessa. Ätbara insekter och odlat kött kan vara alternativa proteinkällor till exempelvis kött, de är mer miljövänliga med avseende på koldioxidutsläpp, vattenförbrukning, markanvändning och energiåtgång. För att livsmedlen ska fylla sin funktion som hållbara proteinkällor så krävs det att de konsumeras av befolkningen. Syftet med denna studie var att studera svenska konsumenters attityder till att äta insekter och odlat kött, samt att undersöka vad konsumenterna själva tror att de kommer att äta i framtiden.   Studien är kvalitativ med en fenomenologisk ansats. Data insamlades med hjälp av intervjuer. 15 personer i olika åldrar deltog i studien, varav 8 kvinnor och 7 män.   Resultatet visade att det finns en blandad attityd till att äta insekter och odlat kött. Insekter upplevdes som främmande och äckligt, och odlat kött som alltför onaturligt för att ätas. Det fanns både en tveksamhet och en nyfikenhet hos respondenterna till dessa alternativa proteinkällor. Hos de som hade en positiv attityd till att äta livsmedlen uppgavs miljövinsterna som främsta anledning till att konsumera dem. Hos de som hade en negativ attityd angavs känslor av äckel som främsta anledning till att inte konsumera insekter och odlat kött. Om insekterna eller det odlade köttet var dolt såsom i korv kunde vissa respondenter tänka sig att äta. Faktorer som ett fördelaktigt pris, god tillgänglighet och att produkter baserade på odlat kött och insekter är godkända enligt livsmedelslagstiftning, påverkade respondenternas villighet att konsumera dessa. Respondenterna trodde framförallt att de kommer att äta mindre kött, mer grönsaker och mer vegetariskt protein i framtiden.   Slutsatsen är att det finns både positiva och negativa attityder till att äta insekter och odlat kött. Viljan att konsumera produkter baserade på dessa livsmedel verkar öka om livsmedlet är dolt, såsom i korv. Detta gäller både för insekter och odlat kött.

Changing the western dietary pattern toward a healthier diet with reduced intake of animal foods is a commonly recognized strategy in the ongoing effort for global sustainability. Since animal foods tend to have a high environmental impact, vegetarian diets are often suggested as an ecological alternative to the typical Western diet. The low sum of environmental impacts, however, does not on its own necessarily translate to a sustainable diet. Sustainability encompasses many other aspects, such as nutritional adequacy, affordability, and cultural acceptability. As regards the elimination of animal foods in particular, health-related aspects ought to be considered since some nutrients are supplied primarily via animal products which may lead to nutritional deficiencies and potential negative health effects in the long term. Furthermore, since the main function of diets is the supply of (adequate) nutrition, the environmental impacts of diets ought to be compared in light of their nutritional quality. In this project the environmental impact on climate change, land use, blue water footprint, and biodiversity damage potential of four diets is assessed, along with their nutritional adequacy and financial cost. The four assessed diets are: an average Swedish diet, New Nordic diet, vegetarian diet, and vegan diet. The environmental impacts are normalized with a nutritient-rich diet score (NRD) to compare the impacts of diets in relation to their nutritional quality. The vegan diet, followed by the vegetarian diet, resulted in the lowest overall impact with the exception of blue water footprint, however, the normalization with NRD score lessened the relative differences between the New Nordic, vegetarian, and vegan diet. Furthermore, the nutritional assessment showed a potentially unsustainable intake of vitamin D in vegetarians and vit. D and B12 in vegans, which is not properly reflected in the nutritional quality score. Nevertheless, the use of the nutritional score is fairly simple and provides opportunity for linking the health-related aspect of diets to their environmental impact. Joined with indicators on other sustainability aspects, such as the economic, this method can offer a more holistic picture of the sustainability of diets. / Att ändra det västerländska kostmönstret mot en hälsosammare diet med minskat intag av animaliska livsmedel är en allmänt erkänd strategi i den pågående ansträngningen för global hållbarhet. Eftersom djurfoder tenderar att ha stor miljöpåverkan, är vegetariska dieter ofta föreslagna som ett ekologiskt alternativ till den typiska västerländska kosten. Den låga summan av miljöpåverkan innebär emellertid inte nödvändigtvis att det är en hållbar diet. Hållbarhet omfattar många andra aspekter, såsom näringskrav, överkomlighet och kulturell acceptans. När det gäller avskaffandet av animaliska livsmedel bör i synnerhet hälsorelaterade aspekter beaktas eftersom vissa näringsämnen levereras primärt via animaliska produkter vilket kan leda till näringsbrist och potentiellt negativa hälsoeffekter på lång sikt. Eftersom dietens huvudsakliga funktion är tillförseln av (tillräcklig) näring, borde miljöpåverkan av dieter jämföras med hänsyn till deras näringskvalitet. I detta projekt bedöms miljöpåverkan med avseende på klimatförändringar, markanvändning, blått blåvattenavtryck och biologisk mångfaldskador för fyra dieter tillsammans med deras näringsbehov och ekonomiska kostnader. De fyra bedömda kostvanorna är: en genomsnittlig svensk diet, ny nordisk kost, vegetarisk kost och vegansk kost. Miljöpåverkan normaliseras med ett näringsrikt diettvärde (NRD) för att jämföra effekterna av dieter i förhållande till deras näringskvalitet. Vegansk diet, följt av vegetarisk kost, resulterade i den lägsta övergripande effekten, med undantag för blå vattenavtryck, men normaliseringen med NRD-poäng minskade de relativa skillnaderna mellan den nya nordiska, vegetariska och veganska dieterna. Vidare visade näringsvärderingen ett potentiellt ohållbart intag av vitamin D för vegetarianer och vit. D och B12 för veganer, vilket inte korrekt återspeglas I det näringsmässiga kvalitetsresultatet. Ändå är användningen av näringsvärdet ganska enkelt och ger möjlighet att koppla den hälsorelaterade aspekten av dieter till deras miljöpåverkan. Genom att kombinera indikatorer för andra hållbarhetsaspekter, såsom den ekonomiska, kan denna metod erbjuda en mer holistisk bild av dieters hållbarhet.

Promouvoir des choix alimentaires en accord avec les quatre dimensions de l’alimentation durable, à savoir la nutrition (en lien avec la santé), l’économie, le socio-culturel et l’environnement, est une priorité nationale et mondiale.L’objectif de cette thèse était de proposer une approche de prévention nutritionnelle sur-mesure, à destination des individus, prenant en compte différentes dimensions de l’alimentation durable. Pour cela, nous avons i) compilé des données hétérogènes issues de sources variées ; ii) proposé une méthode d’analyse multicritère ; iii) réalisé un outil permettant de générer des conseils en accord avec les préférences de chacun.Nous avons réalisé une revue de la littérature, qui souligne l’intérêt d’utiliser l’optimisation des consommations alimentaires pour identifier des régimes durables. Une méthodologie reproductible de compilation de données a été développée et appliquée à la construction d’une base de données unique, nommée « SUStable », intégrant les métriques associées à chaque dimension de la durabilité pour plus de 200 aliments couramment consommés en France.Sur la base de théories du changement de comportement, nous avons développé « Mon Alimentation Sur-Mesure », un prototype d’application web de conseils alimentaires sur-mesure. Un questionnaire de fréquence alimentaire de 94 items, intégré dans l’application, a été validé théoriquement afin d’estimer l’erreur de mesure induite par la structure du questionnaire (utilisation d’une liste finie d’items et de tailles de portions). Avec « Mon Alimentation Sur-Mesure », l’utilisateur peut connaitre la qualité de ses consommations alimentaires, le coût de son alimentation et son niveau d’activité physique. L’utilisateur est acteur de son changement : il précise ses préférences alimentaires ; il choisit, parmi trois modèles d’optimisation des consommations alimentaires, celui qui correspond le mieux à ses attentes ; il choisit les conseils qui lui semblent réalistes.Le prototype d’application développé est innovant dans la mesure où il considère l’alimentation dans sa globalité et rend l’utilisateur actif pour générer les conseils qui lui conviennent le mieux. Cette application pourrait être un futur outil de prévention en santé qui contribuerait à la reprise en main des individus sur leur alimentation. / Promoting food choices in line with the four dimensions of diet sustainability, namely nutrition related to health, economy, socio-cultural and environment, is a national and global priority.The aim of this thesis was to develop a tailored nutrition counselling approach for individuals, taking into account several dimensions of diet sustainability. To achieve this, we have: i) compiled heterogeneous data from various sources; ii) proposed a method for multi-criteria assessment; iii) developed a tool to provide dietary advices which are in accordance with individual’s preferences.We have written a narrative review that demonstrates the added value of diet optimization to identify sustainable diets. A reproducible methodology was developed and applied to the creation of a unique food database, named SUStable, integrating metrics associated with each dimension of diet sustainability for more than 200 foods representative of the French food consumption.We developed a theory-based web application, named “Mon Alimentation Sur-Mesure”, which provides tailored dietary advices. A food frequency questionnaire of 94 items was validated theoretically in order to estimate the error due to the inherent structure of the questionnaire (use of a finite list of items and portion sizes). With “Mon Alimentation Sur-Mesure”, the user can obtain a picture of the nutritional quality of her/his diet, her/his diet cost and her/his level of physical activity. The user is actor in her/his own dietary changes: she/he specifies her/his food preferences; she/he selects, among three diet optimization models, the one that best suits her/his expectations; she/he chooses dietary advices that she/he considers achievable.The application prototype is innovative: it uses a whole-diet approach and allows the user to act to choose her/his advices. This prototype could be a future online health promotion tool which could help individuals to take in hand their diet.

No description available.