Summary
Published in Environmental Science & Technology in 2018, this paper by Heller and colleagues investigates the extent to which nutritional and environmental performance of foods or diets align or conflict. The study likely employs life cycle assessment or similar quantitative frameworks alongside nutritional scoring to identify synergies and trade-offs. It is understood to contribute evidence on whether optimising diets for environmental sustainability necessarily compromises nutritional adequacy, or whether win-win outcomes are achievable.
UK applicability
Although the study is likely conducted in a North American or international context, its findings on nutritional-environmental trade-offs are broadly applicable to UK food policy debates, particularly around sustainable dietary guidelines and reformulation strategies; UK policymakers and researchers should consider any differences in dietary patterns and food production systems when applying the conclusions.
Key measures
Nutritional quality indicators (e.g. nutrient density scores); environmental impact metrics (e.g. greenhouse gas emissions, land use, water use); likely reported per unit food or per unit nutritional value
Outcomes reported
The study examined the relationship between nutritional quality and environmental impact across a range of foods or dietary patterns, assessing whether foods or diets that perform well on nutritional metrics tend to perform poorly on environmental metrics, or vice versa.
Topic tags
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