the great food conundrum: health vs sustainability · the great food conundrum: health vs...

The Great Food Conundrum:Health vs SustainabilityDr Christian Reynolds Knowledge Exchange Research Fellow (N8 AgriFood project)Department of Geography, University of Sheffield

@sartorialfoodie

2 www.N8AgriFood.ac.uk

Securing sustainable, resilient & healthy food supplies for all

Talk outline

• Who am I?• Why do we have a diet conundrum?• The difference between sustainable healthy foods and diets• How can we shift towards a sustainable healthy diet?• Final thoughts…



Who am I?Knowledge Exchange Research Fellow(N8 AgriFood project, Theme 3: Improved nutrition and consumer behaviour)

Research areas:• Healthy Sustainable Diets and Food Consumption

Food WasteHousehold food insecurityEating out/takeaway Food Price



The N8 AgriFood aim:

To combine world-leading research, in cooperation with agri-food and nutritional stakeholders, to ensure secure sustainable, resilient and healthy food supplies for all.



• Food security:‘physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet people’s dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life.’ WHO

• Those with poor access to food security are also least likely to have access to affordable solutions (SUSTAINABLE NUTRITION)

• The N8 focus:• consumers’ dietary needs (innovation in food)• food preferences (health sustainable choices)• public health (policy, practices and intervention)

The Individual

The Situation

The Context

Social Norms

Economic drivers

Policy

N8 AgriFood Approach: Better Nutrition, Better Health



Diet conundrum?

Not as simple as Unhealthy vs Healthy…

So, how did we get here?



The price and quantity of food produced is changing…



How (and where) we purchase food is changing…

UK % market share of supermarkets – Groceries market (yearly average values). Sources, Kantar, IGD http://www.fooddeserts.org/images/supshare.htm, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/11057120/The-rise-and-fall-of-British-supermarkets.html

Online deliveries 5% of market share could be 20% by 2025

75% of the population eating out of home at least once in seven days in 2014, rising from 65% in 2010.

http://www.fooddeserts.org/images/supshare.htm

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/11057120/The-rise-and-fall-of-British-supermarkets.html



The UK Diet is changing…

1974 to 2014

Source: DEFRA Family food open datahttps://data.gov.uk/dataset/family_food_open_data



A change in the UK diet (g per week)

Source: DEFRA Family food open datahttps://data.gov.uk/dataset/family_food_open_data



Our waist lines are changing…

5% of NHS spending is on treating obesity related illness



The climate is changing…



Food production and Climatic change are linked

Wheeler, Tim, and Joachim Von Braun. "Climate change impacts on global food security." Science341.6145 (2013): 508-513.



We need to shift to a sustainable diet

Source: Johnston, et al Advances in Nutrition: An International Review Journal 5.4 (2014): 418-429.



We need to shift to a healthy diet



Climate change and diet

UK food system 9% -20% of total UK GHGE from agriculture/food system.

Paris Targets 57% reduction from 1990 values by 2032, and an 80% reduction by 2050

4.14 kgCO2e/person/day reduced to 1.78kgCO2e/person/day (57% reduction)

Dietary, and technological change is needed.



A sustainable healthy diet

versus

sustainable healthy food

The Livewell diet - 2012



Source: NDNS translated to HDI score matched with GHGE from Audsley 2010 (modifications by Horgan, Whybrow, and Macdiarmid 2016)



Animal products = high impacts• Animal products have consistently reported a high(er)

environmental impact

30kg CO2 equivalents/kg product

2.3kg CO2 equivalents/kg product

Carlsson-Kanyama A, González AD. Am J Clin Nutr. 2009;89(5); Carlsson-Kanyama A. Food Policy. 1998;23(3)



Animal products = high impacts• Animal products have consistently reported a high(er)

environmental impact

Carlsson-Kanyama A, González AD. Am J Clin Nutr. 2009;89(5); Carlsson-Kanyama A. Food Policy. 1998;23(3)

30kg CO2 equivalents/kg product

2.3kg CO2 equivalents/kg product



There are lots of ways to express environmental impact

ProductionWeights

(g, tonnes, yield)

ConsumptionPortions, (meals, snacks)

PhysiologyEnergy

(kJ, kcal)

EconomicsPrice, £, $



Do we eat in calories? In 100g? In £’s? No, we eat meals!

Is it realistic to replace the equivalent energy of animal products with vegetables?

100 calories of BEEF vs CUCUMBER

Can we visualise health and sustainability?Consumers are equating one with the other.



Different foods have different environmental impacts

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1

1.2

1.4

Starchy foods Fruit andvegetables

Milk and dairyfoods

Meat, fish andeggs

Non-animalsources of

protein

Fats anddiscretionary

foods

kg C

O2e

per

FU

Median

kgCO2e per 100g kgCO2e per MJ kgCO2e per portion kgCO2e per £

Median GHGE (kgCO2e) of the four functional units at the food category level .



Different foods have different environmental impacts

kgCO2e per 100g kgCO2e per MJ kgCO2e per portion kgCO2e per £

Median GHGE (kgCO2e) of the four functional units for four common foods .

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

Butter Rice Pepper Lamb

kg C

O2e

per

FU



Changing toward a Sustainable diet (low GHGE diet)

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40 42 44 46 48 50 52 54 56 58 60 62

kgC

O2e

/day

Lower bound %

Optimised diet, UK Average, No cost constraintOptimised diet, UK Average, Cost constraint £4.47/day 2013 diet, UK Average, 2.79kg CO2e/day57% GHGE reduction from 1990 level, 1.78kg CO2e/day

Impact on GHGE and cost associated with lower bounds of the different diets. GHGE associated with different lower bound scenario optimised diets.




0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500

Starchy foods including potatoes and breakfast cereals

Vegetables

Fruits (Inc. fruit juice)

Milk

Other Dairy Products

Red Meat

White meat

Processed meat

Seafood

Nuts, Seeds, Beans and Legumes (Inc. soya milk, soya mince…

Eggs

Butter, margarine, and oils

High fat and Sweet foods (Inc. cream)

Alcohol

Beverages (tea, coffee, Soft drinks)

Total

Food purchases by UK household in g /person/day

Diet to meet 5th carbon budget Typical UK 2013 diet




0.00 0.50 1.00 1.50 2.00 2.50 3.00

Starchy foods including potatoes and breakfast cereals

Vegetables

Fruits (Inc. fruit juice)

Milk

Other Dairy Products

Red Meat

White meat

Processed meat

Seafood

Nuts, Seeds, Beans and Legumes (Inc. soya milk, soya mince…

Eggs

Butter, margarine, and oils

High fat and Sweet foods (Inc. cream)

Alcohol

Beverages (tea, coffee, Soft drinks)

Total

Food purchases by UK household in GHGE kg CO2e /person/day

Diet to meet 5th carbon budget Typical UK 2013 diet



Good news: Sustainable diets are achievable (Reynolds 2016)

✓ Increase Fruit and Vegetable consumption.

✓ Increase in Starchy Foods.

✓ Decrease processed and red meats, substitute chicken or plant based alternatives.

✓ Reduce “discretionary” high fat and high sugar foods is eaten.

✓ Reduce alcoholic, non alcoholic and hot beverages.

Between ⅓-½ shift of current diet.



Final thought #1…How we cook our food matters

Energy used for ingredients and for cooking (MJ) Roast beef and Yorkshire pudding in the traditional “hot oven” method (a) Williams, Audsleyand Sandars (2006) and b) May, Adams, and Plackett (2013)) with median timings, and in the 8 scenarios.



Final thought #2… the food we waste matters

Source: WRAP, 2009, Household Food and Drink Waste in the UK. Report prepared by WRAP. Banbury.



Thank you!

Dr Christian Reynolds Knowledge Exchange Research Fellow (N8 AgriFood project)Department of Geography, University of Sheffield

@sartorialfoodie

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