| Summary of key points in this cluster: |
|---|
| – Increased Interest – high protein foods have been a hot topic in relation to health of humans and Earth. Products have proliferated over the years, some achieving improvements in health of humans and Earth, and others not. – Learn – Systems vary greatly for different plant & animal proteins, some are sustainable, some are not. This leaves some work for consumers to make choices based on what they can learn about the different options. Nutrition professionals can help. – Diversity – There is a huge diversity of animal & plant proteins in the world from water, land, and air. Learn about and encourage diversity, especially species indigenous to your area. – Balance & Track – Balance animals & plants in the environment and other parts of the food system (Production – Markets – Consumption). Whenever there is an imbalance, symptoms emerge that need to be fixed. Strategies are emerging to help consumers both understand the need to balance diets and change to achieve better balance. |
| The SFS Toolkit also has a: – Guide on balanced diet & environment see the 2019 EAT-Lancet report on Healthy Diets from SFS. |
Recent resources in the ICDA SFS Toolkit:
- Meat: The Four Futures (2023) – A podcast series by TABLE and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), via the SLU Future Food platform. The series aims to bring us together on a journey where we can examine our past and our future, our decisions and the science that informs them. The series will explore four competing visions for meat and livestock: 1) Efficient meat 2.0, 2) Alternative “meat”, 3) Less meat, and 4) Plant-based no meat.
- Strategies for reducing meat consumption within college and university settings: A systematic review and meta-analysis (2023 March) – In addition to demonstrating the overall value of behavior change initiatives in advancing more sustainable dining practices on college and university campuses, this study lends further insights into the merits and mechanics underlying strategically integrated approaches to dietary change.
- Temerty Medicine Environmental Health Lecture Series: Health (human and planetary) and the Existential Threat of the Anthropocene (2023 Feb-Apr)
- From the March 14 session on: EAT Lancet – milk and meat with speaker Walter Willett MD, DrPH from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, USA. The EAT-Lancet commission found that global adoption of a flexitarian dietary pattern that could include up to about two servings per day of animal sourced foods, together with improvements in agricultural practices and reductions in food waste, would have major benefits for human health and allow us to stay within planetary boundaries. Any solution must also ensure that we rapidly shift from fossil fuels to green energy. Achieving this will require the engagement of governments at all levels, civil society, and individuals.
- From the March 21 session on: The ecological hoofprint and the trajectory of global livestock production and consumption with speaker Tony Weis PhD, a Professor in the Department of Geography and Environment at The University of Western Ontario, Canada. In 2021, the average person on earth consumed over 45 kg of meat in a world of almost 8 billion people. This picture contains huge disparities in per capita consumption between high- and low-income countries, while the fastest growth is occurring in middle-income countries. The aim of this talk is to present a framework for understanding the multidimensional burdens associated with this trajectory, and why challenging it is vital to hopes of building more sustainable, healthy, just, and humane agro-food systems.
- My NutriWeb: The Truth about Plant Protein (2022 Nov 17). This 4-hour symposium held with the Alpro Foundation and is designed to bring together all professionals working across the health and food systems as well as tutors and students across the UK Ireland and Europe with the aim of addressing the latest hot topics in plant-based eating for health and the planet.
- The politics of protein: examining claims about livestock, fish, ‘alternative proteins’ and sustainability. (2022 Apr) – They recommend 3 approaches for how to move beyond misleading and oversimplified claims to support meaningful change in sustainable protein-source foods. 1) Shift the focus from ‘protein transition’ to sustainable food system transition and sustainable food policies, 2) Prioritize reform pathways that deliver on all aspects of sustainability, starting at the territorial level (measure what matters, where it matters), and 3) Reclaim public resources from ‘big protein’, realign innovation pathways with the public good, and reset the debate.
- WWF Consumer Meat Guides for the Baltic Region (2021) – By eating less but environmentally better meat and choosing more plant-based protein, you as a consumer can contribute to more sustainable meat consumption. These meat guides try to help consumers contribute to more sustainable meat consumption by making wise food choices that take into account nature, climate and animal welfare.
- Plant-Based Meat and Dairy Substitutes as Appropriate Alternatives to Animal-Based Products? (2020) – The authors of this commentary argue that we need a greater knowledge, including the degree of processing, the nutrient profile of the individual foods, and the dietary patterns within which they are consumed. They also call for more research on the health and environmental impacts, as well as research instruments to examine these questions.
- A social cost-benefit analysis of meat taxation and a fruit and vegetables subsidy for a healthy and sustainable food consumption in the Netherlands (2020 May) – This study uses a social cost-benefit analysis to estimate the impacts of three scenarios – a 15% and 30% tax on meat, and a 10% subsidy on fruit and vegetable consumption – for the year 2048 (30 years hence) in the Netherlands. The authors conclude that any of the three scenarios could decrease chronic disease prevalence and healthcare costs, improve mortality rates, improve quality of life, and lead to higher productivity levels. They also estimate costs savings from environmental benefits as well as combined environmental and health benefits to society and financial benefits.
- Plant-based meat substitutes in the flexitarian age: an audit of products on supermarket shelves (2019 Oct) – There are a wide range of ingredients in these products, and they are not necessarily similar to, or healthier than meat. Guidance needs to be provided to consumers about creating healthy plant-based diets. This lack of nutritional equivalence with similar meat products could be especially problematic for those who may already not have enough of some key nutrients.
- Climate Impacts of Cultured Meat and Beef Cattle (2019 Feb) – Cultured meat does not necessarily have less impact on global warming than cattle. The impact varies dependent on the production system of different ways cultured meat is produced and on different systems of producing beef.
- Reducing GHG emissions while improving diet quality: exploring the potential of reduced meat, cheese and alcoholic and soft drinks consumption at specific moments during the day (2018 Feb) – The results illustrate that for this group of respondents with high diet related GHG emissions, reducing red and processed meat intake (even if only at dinner time) and reducing soft and alcoholic drink consumption throughout the day would lead to reduced diet related GHG emissions.
- Comparative analysis of environmental impacts of agricultural production systems, agricultural input efficiency, and food choice (2017) – The results illustrate that environmental impacts of agricultural production systems are different depending on which systems, food, and environmental indicators are examined. The difference in environmental impacts between foods of different types is large compared to the difference between the same foods produced using different systems. For all environmental indicators and nutritional units assessed, plant-based foods have the lowest environmental impacts – even when analyzed per kilocalorie of food produced. Systems should integrate the benefits of both systems to develop more sustainable agriculture (e.g., organic’s lower use of chemical inputs, and higher yields in conventional systems).
- Meat alternatives: life cycle assessment of most known meat substitutes (2015) – This article compares the environmental impacts of different meat substitutes. Multiple environmental impacts were measured, and assessed by weight (kilograms), energy (kilojoules) and protein (grams). The authors estimated impacts from the stage of raw resources to (including) consumer use. One of the key objectives of meat substitutes is to lower environmental impact compared to that of livestock. Across all three measures, lab grown meat and myco-protein based foods (fungus/ mushroom) had the highest impacts. After this, results depended on the unit of measurement (weight, energy, protein). The authors report that the best performers were insect and soya-based substitutes and chicken (although chicken ranked more poorly when measured by weight).
Started 2022 May, updated 2023 August