Austrian Dietary Guidelines (2024)

The 2024 Austrian Dietary guidelines were developed by the Competence Center for Climate and Health of Austria GmbH (GÖG) together with the Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety (AGES) and the Austrian Society for Nutrition (ÖGE). Both health and climate aspects were taken into account.

Visit the link to also download the brochure “Healthy eating, good for the climate” (in German) or it can be accessed or ordered via the brochure service of the Ministry of Social Affairs. The brochure contains healthy and climate-friendly recipes based on the plate model. It was developed by three universities of applied sciences for dietology on behalf of the Ministry of Health.

How Practitioners Can Influence Planetary Health (2024)

Published by Orgain, written by Mary Purdy, MS, RDN.  This 12-page article is inclusive of a useful list of resources and references with 9 suggestions for putting recommendations into practice.

In addition to the topics they raise, two other issues are key for Sustainable Food Systems:

🥤 🛒 PLASTICS are a huge part of the problem in all parts of the food system from production to processing to consumption.  We can avoid plastic and help our clients and networks to do the same.

🌳 🦗 There are thousands of INDIGENOUS SPECIES around the world – diverse flora, fungi, and fauna – which can help to heal our planet & people.

CASCADES (Creating a Sustainable Canadian Health System in a Climate Crisis)

CASCADES’ vision is a pan-Canadian health system that supports a healthy planet, is caring and equitable, and serves communities so that they thrive. Their work supports the Canadian healthcare community in making this vision a reality. CASCADES strengthens the capacity of the healthcare community across Canada to transition towards, high-quality, low-carbon, sustainable and climate-resilient care through:

  • Resources to fill the implementation gap. We leverage community expertise to build robust implementation resources.
  • Training to strengthen the capacity for change. We deliver training through a range of courses and events.
  • Collaboration to foster pan-Canadian coordination. We work with interested parties across the country with a view to pan-Canadian exchange and coordination.

Across Canada, teams are testing and refining evidence-informed change ideas. CASCADES work alongside these innovators to equip and empower a broader community of early adopters. CASCADES also work with partners across Canada to embed validated change ideas within health system guidance, policy, regulation, and institutional structures.

They work with and learn from many other organizations and individuals across the country. CASCADES is funded by Environment and Climate Change Canada and is an initiative of four founding partners: the University of Toronto Collaborative Centre for Climate, Health & Sustainable Care, the Healthy Populations Institute at Dalhousie University, the Planetary Healthcare Lab at the University of British Columbia, and the Canadian Coalition for Green Health Care. In Quebec, CASCADES is a partner in the Réseau d’action pour la santé durable du Québec.

Key collaborations:

  • The Canadian College of Health Leaders (CCHL) and CASCADES are partnering to offer health leaders in Canada a new avenue to leverage, build knowledge, skills and networks across Canada’s healthcare community to promote and deliver sustainable health systems.
  • Through the Health Leadership Specialty in Sustainable Health Systems, Canadian health leaders will undertake the FREE Fundamentals of Sustainable Health Systems course and one of the advanced courses. Participants will apply their learning in their workplace and write a paper on the impact and experience of knowledge translation. The paper is reviewed by a panel of three CCHL Fellowship Evaluators, who may award the Health Leadership Specialty in Sustainable Health Systems.
  • HealthcareLCA constitutes the first global living database of healthcare-related environmental impact assessments. The HealthcareLCA database is designed to support the transition to sustainable, low-carbon health systems, providing an open-access, interactive, and up-to-date evidence resource for healthcare workers, sustainability researchers, and policymakers. The collaboration between CASCADES and HealthcareLCA aims at supporting regular updates of the database and its availability as an open access resource.

Collaborative Centre for Climate, Health & Sustainable Care Organization (2023)

The Collaborative Centre for Climate, Health & Sustainable Care is a multi-faculty academic unit at the University of Toronto. Launched in November 2023, the Collaborative Centre is an initiative of four faculties: the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, the Lawrence Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing, and the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, with an administrative home for Temerty Medicine in the Department of Family and Community Medicine.

This unit will catalyze research, education, and practice change in clinical care, health system management, health policy, and public health to meet the transformative challenges posed by climate change and the demands of sustainability.

Pillars of Activity

  • Education – explore options for supporting health professions and graduate health sciences education.
  • Research – assess research needs, identify opportunities for catalyzing research and connecting with trainees from across UofT, and develop a network and directory of members.
  • Practice Change – serves as the Secretariat for the Toronto Academic Health Science Network (TAHSN) Sustainable Health System Community of Practice. It will explore opportunities to strengthen the Sustainable Health System Community of Practice and build links to other Communities of Practice.

Centre for Sustainable Healthcare (CSH)

Since 2008 the Centre for Sustainable Healthcare (CSH) has engaged healthcare professionals, patients, and the wider community to understand the connections between health and the environment and reduce healthcare’s resource footprint.

CSH’s work is guided by the principles of sustainable clinical practice:

  • Prevention
  • Patient empowerment and self care
  • Lean systems
  • Low carbon alternatives

CSH programmes equip healthcare professionals and organisations with methods and metrics for sustainable models of care:

  • Sustainable Specialties Programme
  • Carbon Footprinting and Triple Bottom Line Analysis
  • Education and Training
  • Sustainability in Quality Improvement*
  • The Green Team Competition
  • Green Space for Health
  • Sustainable Healthcare Peer Networks

* CSH’s Sustainability in Quality Improvement (or SusQI) recognises that there are finite environmental, social and financial resources available to deliver a high standard of patient care. The overall goal of incorporating sustainability into quality improvement is to maximise sustainable value. This means to deliver the best possible health outcomes with minimum financial and environmental costs, while adding positive social value at every opportunity.

CSH was born in and will always have its heart in Oxford, England, but our expanding team of international experts is situated all over the UK, the EU and beyond. CSH has grown into the world’s foremost institution for sustainable healthcare in research and practice and has had a positive impact on so much of the healthcare system in the UK and beyond.

From measuring and reducing our own carbon footprint to prioritising the health, wellbeing, and work/life balance of those in our team, the CSH team practices what they preach every day. In line with our sustainable ethos, we minimise the daily commute by working online. This provides us with the freedom and efficiency to tap into the best and brightest minds in their fields while making a positive impact on the environment in the way we work.

By building its own research base, best practice recommendations and an ever-growing bank of case studies, it has fulfilled its goal of bringing all of that expert knowledge into action, changing clinical care and influencing policy at the highest level.

As CSH goes from strength to strength, so too does its message that healthcare can be sustainable.

Planetary Health by Rx Brick Exchange (updated regularly)

One of the free collections by Rx Brix Exchange is about Planetary Health, which covers the relationship between human health and the environment to empower future health professionals to prepare for and tackle challenges that a changing climate and environmental pollution present to our health and livelihoods. 14 bricks are in the collection and it will take about 3 hours to read or listen to if you choose the audio.

About Rx Brick Exchange

Rx Brick Exchange is a place to share and build on ideas and curriculum, learn from leading experts, and use their expertise in your classroom. Their mission is to create sustainable and accessible medical education for students and educators around the world. It is the first global health sciences curriculum exchange that empowers educators to create and share health science Bricks with faculty and students worldwide.

The Medical Student Alliance for Global Education (MeSAGE) is a student-driven consortium of the world’s leading medical student organizations, representing over 1.3 million learners. Founded in 2019, MeSAGE empowers and supports student organizations with the tools they need to work toward closing educational gaps in areas like health equity, diversity, inclusion, or social justice.

Content development processes are constantly evolving, as they embark on new projects and redefine roles. Their commitment to working with students never wavers. They have a directory of student authors and reviewers to acknowledge people who contribute to the development of the global, shared curriculum vision.

Rx Essentials Collections is a comprehensive library of digital learning modules, designed to help build your foundation of medical knowledge, brick by brick. There are 23 free collections. A 5-day free trial lets you access all of them to see if you are interested in paying to access them as a member.

“A ruined planet cannot sustain human lives in good health. A healthy planet and healthy people are two sides of the same coin.”

Dr. Margaret Chan, Former Director General of the World Health Organization.

Manifesto for One Health in Europe (2023)

From the Manifesto:

The Coalition of Health Professionals for Regenerative Agriculture is a growing movement of health professionals and a multidisciplinary set of people and organisations connecting the dots between soil health and human health. This manifesto aims to give voice to a European Regenerative Healthcare movement and incentivise actions across the food, agriculture, and healthcare systems. This piece aims to align the voices of different stakeholders to achieve One Health in Europe.

The One Health concept highlights that the health and well-being of humans are inseparably linked to the health of other ecosystem components such as soil, plants, and animals. As health professionals, we recognise our unique role in mitigating the climate, food, and health crisis by promoting One Health.

Regenerative Healthcare is one of the practical solutions of One Health, where soil health connects to human health. The cycle starts with the farmer, who grows nutrient-dense food through agroecological practices. The food is then provided to hospitals and other public institutions as a tool to treat and prevent disease.

This chain demands that health professionals and all the different stakeholders involved have a holistic understanding of agriculture, nutrition, food systems, and also prevention-based measures to tackle human and environmental health crises. Training healthcare providers in regenerative healthcare promote soil, plant, animal, and human health, and it can scale regenerative agriculture and agroecology.

Call for sustainable food systems including (medical) nutrition for hospitalised children and their families (2024)

Verbruggen SCAT, Cochius den Otter S, Bakker J, et al. Call for sustainable food systems including (medical) nutrition for hospitalised children and their families. Frontline Gastroenterology  Published Online First: 20 March 2024. doi: 10.1136/flgastro-2023-102478 (open access)

  • Key messages
    • The climate emergency is a pressing global issue that poses significant threats to human health and the environment.
    • A call to collective action from industry, legislators, and non-governmental organisations to develop standardised processes to reduce the amount of plastic in medical nutrition and associated waste.
    • To develop scalable circular economy for medical nutrition there needs to be standardisation of process and methodology, as a current lack of transparency and large-scale action hinders progress towards effecting change.
    • Research is required around behaviour change models to support the transition from animal-based to plant-based diets, including medical nutrition, for hospital patients, visitors, and staff.
    • Collective action is required for all of us, although small acts can save our planet – we need large scale action.
    • How can you get involved in advocating for your hospital to reduce the amount of medical nutrition waste?
  • Abstract
    • The climate emergency presents a profound threat to global health, adversely affecting the health and well-being of children who are projected to bear a substantial disease burden, as well as impacting children’s right to food, water, healthcare and education. The healthcare sector strives to prioritise preventative healthcare policies improving the health of individuals across the life course. However, current healthcare practices significantly contribute to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and waste generation, in which (medical) nutrition plays an important role.
    • Plant-based proteins offer sustainability benefits, and potential health advantages, and have a lower climate footprint, although there may also be unintended consequences of land-use change and deforestation for certain crops. However, to develop suitable plant-based alternatives to medical nutrition, it will be necessary to address regulatory obstacles as well as ensure nutritional profiles are suitable, particularly protein (amino acid) and micronutrient composition. Additionally, the development of heat-tolerant and water-efficient plant genotypes could bolster adaptation to changing climatic conditions.
    • Effective waste management, including wasted food and medical nutrition, emerges as a key strategy in mitigating the climate impact of medical nutrition. While research on food waste in healthcare settings is limited, minimising waste spillage in medical nutrition is a crucial area to explore. Healthcare professionals must acknowledge their roles in curbing the climate footprint of medical nutrition as well as recommendations for food-based approaches.
    • This review aims to investigate the sustainability of medical nutrition for paediatric care, focusing on factors contributing to GHG emissions, plant-based alternatives, waste management and plastic packaging. Such an exploration is vital for healthcare professionals to fulfil their responsibilities in addressing the climate crisis while advocating for change.
https://doi.org/10.1136/flgastro-2023-102478

Food as Medicine Global Directory (2024)

Food as Medicine Global will sunset as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit effective June 20, 2024. Given the recent emergence of numerous food-as-medicine initiatives, they believe now is the appropriate time to conclude their work as an organization. Members and conference registrants will continue to have access to our Online Community Site through May 31, 2025, to stay connected and view the conference recordings.

You are encouraged to be involved with the dedicated groups in the Resource Directory (the same link as below), which includes organizations and community initiatives working towards positive food system solutions.

Please direct any questions to heather@foodasmedicine.global.

Vision – A collaborative global community of farmers, health care providers, healers, hospitals, clinics, educators, schools, academic centers, students, cooks and consumers united in a vision for a healthy world.

Mission – To facilitate educational conversations and collaborative engagement for unifying agriculture and medicine to promote health and healing for all. Food as Medicine Global (FAMG) is about community. We facilitate conversations leading to increased collaborations and individual actions to promote health and healing for all. We host events for continued cooperative engagement, brainstorming, and learning from each other to advance the Food as Medicine movement.

Why? Many of our current world challenges have a common root: the way food is grown and consumed. Farming practices impact the health of people, animals, and the environment. Healthier soil leads to healthier food, healthier people, a healthier ecosystem, and healthier climate. There is already a great deal of work happening globally in these areas; however, much of it is in isolation. Our intent is to gather information, build bridges, advance conversations, strengthen engagement, highlight success stories, and amplify efforts to energize a global movement. 

Communicating on climate change and health: Toolkit for health professionals (2024)

While climate change is a big threat to health, implementing solutions to address climate change presents a huge opportunity to promote better health and protect people from climate-sensitive diseases. Communicating the health risks of climate change and the health benefits of climate solutions is both necessary and helpful.

Health professionals are well-placed to play a unique role in helping their communities understand climate change, protect themselves, and realize the health benefits of climate solutions. This toolkit aims to help health professionals effectively communicate about climate change and health.

Note: Food and nutrition are mentioned in the toolkit but are not a large part of the toolkit. Agriculture is not mentioned. There is general guidance on preparing communication which can be helpful when used with a resource like our ICDA SFS Toolkit.

Communicating on climate change and health: toolkit for health professionals. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2024. Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO.