Archive | 2021
Conservative to disruptive diets for optimizing nutrition, environmental impacts and cost in French adults from the NutriNet-Santé cohort
Abstract
Improving the sustainability of diets requires the identification of diets that meet the nutritional requirements of populations, promote health, are within planetary boundaries, are affordable and are acceptable. Here we explore the extent to which dimensions of sustainability could be optimally aligned and identify more sustainable dietary solutions, from the most conservative to the most disruptive, among 12,166 participants of the NutriNet-Sante cohort. We aim to concomitantly lower environmental impacts (including greenhouse gas emissions, cumulative energy demand and land occupation), increase organic food consumption and study departure from observed diets (considered as a proxy for acceptability). From the most conservative to the most disruptive scenario, optimized diets were gradually richer in fruits, vegetables and soya-based products and markedly poorer in animal-based foods and fatty and sweet foods. The contribution of animal protein to total protein intake gradually decreased by 12% to 70% of the observed value. The greenhouse gas emissions from food production for the diets gradually decreased across scenarios (as a percentage of observed values) by 36–86%, land occupation for food production by 32–78% and energy demand by 28–72%. Our results offer a benchmark of scenarios of graded dietary changes against graded sustainability improvements. Conservative to disruptive changes in dietary patterns of French adults from the NutriNet-Sante cohort are considered for reducing environmental impacts, increasing organic food consumption, providing adequate nutrition and being economically acceptable. A progressive substitution of animal products by plant products across dietary scenarios more closely aligned dimensions of sustainability.