Do You Know That Our Food Behaviors Impact On Our Planet

This text has been written by Ujué Fresán and Guillaume Chevance, Assistant Research Professor and Head of the ISGlobal eHealth Group.

The increase in human population since 1950 along with our resource-demanding lifestyles are putting unsustainable pressure on our planet. We humans, notably those of us living in high-income countries, are consuming more energy and resources than what the earth can provide. Assuming that we don’t change our lifestyles by 2050, we will need at least “two planets” to live as we do now. What we eat in oureveryday life is a main driver of this ongoing environmental breakdown.

The food system is responsible for 21-37% of all the greenhouse gas emissions worldwide, uses about 70% of freshwater and is a major source of water pollution

The food system is responsible for 21-37% of all the greenhouse gas emissions worldwide, uses about 70% of freshwater and is a major source of water pollution. Around 40% of the habitable land on Earth is used for growing our food or feeding farmed animals. It has been estimated that 73% of the world’s deforestation is related to the food system, and deforestation is the leading cause of habitat degradation and biodiversity loss. If the current trends in consuming highly resource-demanding food continue, along with projected increases in demography, the pressure of the food system on the environment is predicted to increase by 50-90% in 2050.

Photo: Conscious Design / Unsplash

In parallel, and beyond the inter-relationship between food and environment, current dietary patterns are the leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. The prevalence of diseases associated with high-calories and unhealthy diets are increasing, leading to 2 billion overweight or obese adults and an increasing number of people diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Indeed, it has been estimated that 22% of the deaths and 15% of the quality-adjusted life years lost attributable to non-communicable diseases worldwide were endorsed to diet-related risk factors. Our country is no exception. Almost 14% of Spaniards over the age of 18 have type 2 diabetes, which is equivalent to more than 5.3 million compatriots. The situation is even more alarming when we talk about overweight; around 30-40% of children and half of the adult population suffers from overweight or obesity. Therefore, changing current dietary patterns into sustainable healthy diets is imperative for both human and planetary health.

Changing current dietary patterns into sustainable healthy diets is imperative for both human and planetary health

Sustainable healthy diets have been defined as “dietary patterns that promote all dimensions of individuals’ health and wellbeing; have low environmental pressure and impact; are accessible, affordable, safe and equitable; and are culturally acceptable”. Sustainable healthy diets, therefore, do not only take into account the health of people and the planet, but also the economic and socio-cultural dimensions of food, which differ according to the context and the region. However, such diets have some common features. They are characterized by being nutritionally-balanced patterns with:

• A high intake of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes and
• A low (if any) consumption of animal-based foods such as meats (especially red and processed meat), dairies, fish, and of sugary, salty and highly processed products.
• While also prioritizing the consumption of unsaturated and unrefined vegetables oils versus other dietary fats.

Foto: Brook Lark / Unsplash

Achieving sustainable healthy dietary patterns not only requires large transformative changes in our food systems but also other more explicitly tailored strategies to raise awareness and influence individual consumer behaviors in favor of such diets. However, getting people to change their behavior is complex, and interventions in the dietary domain have shown relatively small effects so far. Furthermore, most published interventions reported in the literature have been aimed at targeting certain food groups, such as improving vegetable intake or reducing meat consumption, but no intervention has been conducted yet to promote a sustainable healthy diet through a whole dietary change.

ISGlobal’s eHealth team will soon launch a new project entitled “Alimentación S2: por una dieta saludable y sostenible” aimed at promoting a healthy and sustainable diet through motivational and educational messages as well as recipes sent on participants’ smartphone

To cope with these limitations, ISGlobal’s eHealth team will soon launch a new project entitled “Alimentación S2: por una dieta saludable y sostenible” aimed at promoting a healthy and sustainable diet through motivational and educational messages as well as recipes sent on participants’ smartphone. Our project will also try, via 6-month qualitative and quantitative evaluations, to better understand the drivers of such changes and how people cope with the difficulties of changing their diet for a healthier and more sustainable one. We hope this pilot project will be the first of a series of studies aimed at helping people make better food choices for both their health and that of the environment.