Sustainable healthy diets | TableDebates

BBC World Service - The Why Factor - Vegans

The FCRN’s founder Dr Tara Garnett was interviewed on the BBC Worldservice’s Why Factor programme, for their episode which discussed veganism.

Photo: 20130712-AMS-LSC-0396, US Department of Agriculture, Flickr, Public Domain Mark 1.0

A model for ‘sustainable’ US beef production

This study by researchers in the US used a theoretical approach to work out how much beef could be produced in the US if the cows were raised solely on pasturelands and by-products, and what the environmental and nutritional ramifications of repurposing the freed up cropland would be.

Foodsource

How are food systems, diets, and health connected?

Today, billions are malnourished: not eating a diet containing energy and nutrients in healthy amounts. Both lack of food and excess of consumption cause huge levels of disease worldwide. To a significant extent, the food systems in which people participate determine what people can and do eat (i.e. their diets); and as a consequence, their health. Food systems are, therefore, central to solving many of the world’s biggest health challenges. But the way in which they affect health in different regions and among different groups of people is complex, and varies greatly. An understanding of these interconnections and their effects is needed, in order for food systems to be changed in ways that promote human wellbeing.

Image: Cazz, Terraced rice paddies, Flickr, Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic

What’s on the table? Mitigating agricultural emissions while achieving food security

A Climate Action Tracker report outlines and quantifies the main opportunities to reduce food-related non-CO2 greenhouse gas emissions, particularly CH4 and N2O.

Towards a European food and nutrition policy

This report by researchers at Wageningen University considers current food policies and practices in the EU, as well as the potential for change in the future.

Overview on development in 2017 towards a sustainable protein system

This piece by the international NGO Futures Centre highlights the emergence of some innovative solutions that could help the transition to a sustainable protein consumption and production system.

Photo: U.S. Department of Agriculture, How much do fruits and vegetables cost, Flickr, CC by 2.0

Evaluating the environmental impacts of dietary recommendations

This new study by FCRN member Paul Behrens and colleagues investigates the environmental impacts of a nationally recommended diet when compared to the national average diet for 37 nations across the world, including 9 middle income nations.

Report from European science academies on opportunities and challenges for European food and nutrition security and agriculture

Scientists from national academies across Europe are calling for urgent action on food and nutrition in a new independent report published by the European Academies’ Science Advisory Council (EASAC). This analysis can be relevant for policy-makers working on food, nutrition, health, the environment, climate change, and agriculture.

Unravelling the food-health nexus: Addressing practices, political economy, and power relations to build healthier food systems

This report, authored by the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES-Food) and commissioned by the Global Alliance for the Future of Food, shows how food systems affect health through multiple, interconnected pathways, generating severe human and economic costs – and points to levers that can help to address the critical health issues and compounding factors that contribute to poor health, such as climate change, poverty and inequality, and unsanitary conditions.