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Food systems-based dietary guidelines (FSBDGs, 2024)

This document is a brief introduction to the new food systems-based dietary guidelines (FSBDGs) methodology developed by FAO, which not only aims to address health and nutritional priorities but takes a food system approach to promote healthy diets, by considering socio-cultural, economic, and environmental sustainability.

Why is a food systems-based methodology necessary?

Most countries have developed dietary guidelines with a focus on improving consumers’ nutrition and overall health. Such guidelines have been mainly used for nutrition education. Only a few countries have extended their use to inform policies and interventions in other sectors, such as in public procurement and social protection.

To leverage their potential for doing more in other sectors, some countries have included sustainability considerations in new or revised dietary guidelines. However, the methodologies and approaches used by these countries differ significantly from one another and are seldom made public.

The international community has recognized the potential and need for dietary guidelines to catalyze food systems transformation towards sustainability and to influence policies beyond the scope of consumer education. However, at present, there is a lack of global guidance and tools to facilitate this.

To fill in this gap, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has developed the new food systems-based dietary guidelines (FSBDGs) methodology through a collaborative process involving multiple global, regional, and country-level experts.

Healthy, Sustainable Eating 101 (Clif bar website)

Clif Bar has a Nutrition Education Hub is filled with a variety of resources to help you discover easy ways to eat with nutrition and sustainability in mind. With actionable guidance, tips and tricks, and answers to your tough questions by their team of dietitians and expert advisors. Thoughtful choices about the foods we eat can support our health, the health of the planet, and the health of generations to follow.

Some Examples on their website include:

Webinar – Dietitians Driving Change: Navigating Healthy, Sustainable Diets (1 CEU) – Join registered dietitians Sharon Palmer and Clancy Cash Harrison to learn why sustainability should be a core part of every dietitian’s toolkit. Learn how to evaluate the environmental and socioeconomic impacts of food choices, and what you can do to lead the charge in making healthy, sustainable diets more accessible.

Webinar – Behind the Label: Sustainability Seals and Certification (1 CEU) – Third-party sustainability seals and certifications provide verified guidance allowing consumers to identify sustainable options more easily. This webinar provides an overview of commonly used seals and certifications and the criteria they represent. Dietitians can learn key strategies to help their clients make informed choices that can positively impact their health, the planet and the lives of the people who grow and make our food.

Article – Everything You Need To Know About Healthy, Sustainable Eating. By Kate Geagan, MS, RD, Clif Nutrition Advisory Council member. Clif Bar & Company recently brought together 20 leading voices in health and wellness (including registered dietitians) to talk about sustainable nutrition. And while each shared their unique perspective based on personal experiences and passions, common themes emerged when it came down to what constitutes a healthy, sustainable diet (and, just as importantly, how to put it into practice). One key takeaway? Good food has the power to nourish so much more than our bodies. Read on to learn more about what these influential voices had to say, including the “what”, “why” and “how” of healthy, sustainable eating made easy.

Article – How to Eat Well for People and the Planet – Food has the power to do more than fuel us. Thoughtful choices about the foods we choose can positively impact our health, the health of the planet, and the health of generations to follow. Clif Bar & Company asked 20 leading voices in health and wellness, including registered dietitians what it means to eat a healthy, sustainable diet. Here’s what they said.

Article – Packaging with Purpose – Our Commitment to Sustainable Packaging – Clif Bar has proudly signed the Ellen MacArthur Foundation Global Commitment to help create a world where plastic never becomes waste or pollution.That means, by 2025, 100% of their packaging will be reusable, recyclable, or compostable. See the link for more of the commitments that you can promote and encourage as well.

Article – Making it Better with Organic – At Clif Bar, our journey to use organic ingredients started in 2003. Since then, we’ve maintained our commitment to organic and use a majority of organic ingredients in our products. We’ve learned along the journey that organic can be a catalyst for good. It’s key to creating a healthier, more just, and sustainable food system for all of us, and organic food connects people to a healthy planet.

A pathway to personal, population and planetary health for dietitians and nutrition professionals (2023 Nov)

MacKenzie-Shalders, K. L., Barbour, L., Charlton, K., Cox, G. R., Lawrence, M., Murray, S., Newberry, K., Senior, N. M., Stanton, R., & Tagtow, A. M. (2023). A pathway to personal, population and planetary health for dietitians and nutrition professionals. Public Health Nutrition, Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1002/puh2.137

Abstract

Background

Earth and all its inhabitants are threatened by a planetary crisis; including climate change, deforestation, biodiversity loss and pollution. Dietitians and nutrition professionals have a responsibility to lead transformational change in contemporary food and health systems to help mitigate this crisis. The study aims to develop a conceptual framework to support dietitians towards personal, population and planetary health.

Methods

Non-empirical methods were used by the co-researchers to explore and explain the application of an international framework ‘Next-Generation Solutions to Address Adaptive Challenges in Dietetics Practice: The I + PSE Conceptual Framework for Action’. (I+PSE = Individual plus Policy, System, and Environmental)

Results

A non-sequential pathway guide to personal, population and planetary health for nutrition professionals was developed including several key guiding principles of Agency, Action, Ascension, Alignment, Alliance and Allyship, and Advocacy and Activism. Each guiding principle features descriptors and descriptions to enhance dietitian and nutrition professional

Agency (i.e. vision, self-belief, confidence, strength and responsibility),
Action (i.e. start, shift, translate, achieve and commit),
Ascension (i.e. build, overcome, manage, challenge and progress),
Alignment (i.e. leadership, transparency, diplomacy, values and systems),
Alliance and Allyship (i.e. support, collaborate, represent, community and citizenship) and
Advocacy and Activism (i.e. disrupt, co-design, transform, empower and urgency).

The framework and its descriptors support enhanced understanding and are modifiable and flexible in their application to guide the participation of dietitians and nutrition professionals in transformational change in personal, population and planetary health. This guide acknowledges that First Nations knowledge and customs are important to current and future work within this field.

Conclusions

Alongside the international body of work progressing in this field, this framework and visual guide will support dietitians and nutrition professionals to achieve urgent, transformational change in personal, population and planetary health.

Next-generation solutions to address adaptive challenges in dietetics practice: the I+PSE conceptual framework for action (2022)

Tagtow A, Herman D, Cunningham-Sabo L. Next-generation solutions to address adaptive challenges in dietetics practice: the I+PSE conceptual framework for action. J Acad Nutr Diet. 2022; 122(1): 15-24.

This article focuses on Applications for Professional Practice. The following is taken from the introduction to the article:

“It describes the Individual plus Policy, System, and Environmental (I+PSE) Conceptual Framework for Action (known as the “Framework”) as a roadmap for RDNs across all areas of practice (eg, research, education, clinical, community, and management) to better address adaptive challenges and to formulate multidimensional strategies for optimal impact. The Framework has cross-cutting practice implications for all areas of dietetics practice and can lead to the next generation of solutions to tackle adaptive challenges that better support nutrition and health.

The I+PSE Conceptual Framework for Action (see Figure) is a blueprint for RDNs and their partners to develop and implement multidimensional strategies using a systems orientation to achieve greater responsiveness to adaptive challenges and realize greater impacts.

Phase 1 –
- Once an adaptive challenge is identified, RDNs can apply a determinants of health lens (Figure, phase 1) to closely examine nutrition and health problems and better identify why problems are worsening despite best efforts to solve them. The result of this focused assessment is a stronger diagnosis of the root causes that supports strategic decision-making in phase 2.
Phase 2 –
- Is the formation of coordinated multidimensional strategies that produce a sustainable and synergistic effect.
Phase 3 –
- Is the evaluation of outcomes and impacts of the suite of strategies and the degree to which change has occurred at the individual, practice, program, organizational, policy, and population levels. Encircling the Framework is systems thinking and reflection to support an iterative cycle of robust assessment, planning, implementation, and impact evaluation. The Framework is versatile and can be adapted to a wide range of nutrition issues, areas of dietetics practice, and diverse partnerships.”

Food environment framework in low- and middle-income countries – An integrative review (2023 Dec)

Neha Gupta, Vaishali Deshmukh, Sonika Verma, Seema Puri, Nikhil Tandon, Narendra K. Arora. Food environment framework in low- and middle-income countries – An integrative review. Global Food Security. Volume 39. 2023. 100716. ISSN 2211-9124. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gfs.2023.100716. (pay wall)

Relevant to:

Researchers from multidisciplinary domains, policy makers, program managers

Question:

The integrative review addressed the following objectives: (1) to develop a multi-level framework of Food Environments (FE) for low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) based on McLeroy socio ecological theory and Penchansky and Thomas’s theory of access; (2) to identify the factors operating at different levels of the FE framework; and (3) to understand the relationship between factors operating at different levels of FE framework and dietary behaviors in LMICs.

Bottom line for nutrition practice:

Food environment embedded in the food systems is a key consideration in sustainability. This study finds that the food environments in LMICs are in a dynamic state and have context specific mix of traditional systems and emerging modern supply chain-based markets.
The proposed socio-ecological model of the food environment in the context of LMICs should lay the foundation for an operational and analytical tool for surveillance, capturing dynamicity and its determinants.

Abstract:

There are major gaps in our understanding of food environments (FE) in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs) witnessing differential and complex social and economic transition. The present integrative review was conducted to develop a conceptual framework of FE for LMICs using socio-ecological and access theory. The FE framework has four layers: public policy, community/neighborhood (including organizational e.g., markets, schools), household, and individual. Availability, accessibility, and affordability with built-in socio-cultural and contextual factors were the major domains in every layer. The following additional domains emerged: global influences, marketing and regulation, nutrition programs, time-constrained family members, and food behavior. Wet and informal markets are important components of FE. The next step is determining the model’s resilience to accommodate and capture nuances across LMICs.

Details of results:

The integrative review included evidence from 28 studies about food environment in low and middle-income countries in the last two decades.
The review used McLeroy’s socio-ecological model and Penchansky’s access theory as the basis for identifying the socio-economic and ecological factors operating at multiple levels in the LMIC food environment that influence dietary outcomes.
The factors were operating at (i) policy, (ii) community, (iii) household, and (iv) individual levels under the availability, affordability, and accessibility domains at each level are interwoven among themselves
The review identified that context and neighborhood characteristics characterise the food environment. In addition, the unorganized markets comprise of the major component of food environment
The evidence synthesis identified the following additional domains at multiple levels: Nutrition programs and global influences (Policy level); marketing and regulations (policy and neighborhood level); and time constraint and food behavior (household level).

Of additional interest:

n/a

Conflict of interest/ Funding:

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

External relevant links:

n/a

Corresponding author:

Seema Puri, Department of Food and Nutrition, Institute of Home Economics, University of Delhi, New Delhi, India, dr.seemapuri@gmail.com

Agriculture, Food and Climate Action Toolkit (2023 Dec)

The Agriculture, Food and Climate Action Toolkit aims to help national policymakers translate global climate and food commitments into local actions directly supports the COP28 Emirates Declaration on Sustainable Agriculture, Resilient Food Systems and Climate Action. The opportunity for the Declaration’s signatories to translate their commitments into ambitious national-level action lies in Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and National Adaptation Plans (NAPs).

The toolkit is 40-pages and mentions nutrition throughout. Priority actions identified in the Toolkit include shifting to nature-positive food production, reducing and repurposing food loss and waste, and transitioning to nutritious and healthy diets. Only a combination of these actions will bring food-based greenhouse gas emissions within a 1.5 degrees Celsius carbon budget, and ensure that food producers can adapt to changes in what, where and how they can grow and harvest food.

It identifies six priorities for policymakers to incorporate in updated NDCs and NAPs, provides a series of case studies from countries already integrating food systems actions in their national climate plans, and gives an overview of existing resources that can enable the enhancement, replication and scaling of successful practices.

Although most countries have introduced at least one food-based measure in their NDCs and NAPs, many continue to face significant challenges in holistically integrating and implementing food system measures. Most countries focus on food production, with a limited number including actions on food loss and waste, and only a handful considering consumption and diets. By identifying good examples from different parts of the world, the toolkit will support policymakers in introducing additional measures that will deliver the most impact in their own context.

The COP28 Agriculture, Food and Climate Action Toolkit was produced by a taskforce – which included WWF, Global Alliance for the Future of Food, Climate Focus, NDC Partnership, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of United Nations, CGIAR and the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT – convened by the UAE COP28 Presidency and will be a valuable resource for countries as they transform their food systems to both mitigate and adapt to climate change.

European Institute of Innovation & Technology (EIT) Food

EIT Food is an initiative of the European Institute of Innovation & Technology (EIT), the mission is to transform how food is produced, distributed, and consumed and to increase its value to European society. They achieve this by solving the biggest innovation challenges through trusted industry, education and research partners working together with informed and engaged citizens. They believe inclusive systems innovation, which enables all people and places to participate and benefit, is essential to a strong food system that is better for everyone.

With teams on the ground across Europe, they bridge the gap between countries and regions with low innovation capacity and those leading the way. They put consumers at the heart of our work, helping build trust by reconnecting them to the origins of their food, directly involving them in the innovation process, and working with the food sector to increase transparency. Collaboration is central to all their work, which spans the whole food value chain, and is vital to meet the big challenges. Together with the community, they work to build an innovative and resilient food system that in turn creates a healthier society and planet.

Initiatives include:

EIT Food Educators that provides teachers with fun, creative and interesting activities to engage young people, mainly schoolchildren. Easily accessible, science-based food education materials enhance students’ learning so they can become better informed, conscious consumers of the future. The vision is a world where all young people have access to food education and are aware of exciting and innovative agrifood careers. The mission is to support educators to teach, engage and inspire young people about the food they eat and consider a career in agrifood.

EIT FoodUnfolded – Articles, videos and podcasts will take you on a journey through our food system, covering everything from where our food comes from and how it’s made, to the chemistry behind food and how it affects our bodies, to the impact that food production can have on people and the environment – and innovations and alternative practices that could help reduce that impact. Learning more about our food and its origins can deeply impact our food choices, the system our choices affect and, ultimately, help protect our planet. By bringing facts and stories to life, they hope to help you navigate these everyday decisions through knowledge. Together, we can transform the future of our food.

EIT FoodHIVE a network which is working together to make a more sustainable, healthy and trusted food system. Members range from leading businesses, research centres and universities, to food investors, mentors, students, startups and alumni. To bring this diverse community together, they have created FoodHIVE, a digital platform to share, network and collaborate.

Global Food Systems Network Map

The Global Food Systems Network Map is a powerful online tool designed to visually represent the relationships among stakeholders involved in food systems-related efforts worldwide.

Given the varied and dynamic nature of global food systems, it is often challenging to track projects and partners. This Network Map, created by Meridian Institute, aims to alleviate these challenges by illustrating the landscape of multi-stakeholder initiatives working across food systems, including what issues these initiatives are working on and how they are driving change.

This Network Map will help organizations working in food systems both identify opportunities for collaboration and gather insights on how to focus efforts and resources for maximum collective impact.

The Network Map is hosted on Kumu, an interactive network visualization tool. Learn more about how to navigate the Map here.

JHND Special Issue: Sustainable Food Systems and Dietary Patterns in Nutrition and Dietetic Practice (2023 Dec)

The British Dietetic Association’s Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics (JHND) published a Special Issue on Sustainable Food Systems and Dietary Patterns in Nutrition and Dietetic Practice edited by: Liesel Carlsson, Angela Madden, and Kalliopi-Anna Poulia (Volume 36, Issue 6, Pages: 2121-2350, December 2023).

Twelve of the sixteen articles are open access and cover a wide range of practice settings.

Open Access – Conceptualising sustainability in Canadian dietetic practice: A scoping review – Dietitians are well-positioned to promote sustainable food systems and diets. This research identifies practice activities described in the Canadian published literature and compares these with dietetic competency standards. Increasing practitioners’ ability to analyse issues using systems thinking will help address complex challenges. Updates to competency standards and curricular supports are needed to support this area of practice.

Open Access – Meat versus meat alternatives: which is better for the environment and health? A nutritional and environmental analysis of animal-based products compared with their plant-based alternatives – Plant-based meat products were analysed to understand which are more healthy, environmentally friendly and affordable. Plant-based products were found to contain less saturated fat, protein and calories; more fibre and sugar; and similar salt content. They were more expensive but had less emissions. Plant-based and meat products were classed as ultra-processed.

Environmental imprints of agricultural and livestock produce: A scoping review from South Asian countries – Diversification in food production and cultivating additional coarse cereals (millets) offer opportunities for green house gas (GHG) reduction in South Asian countries.

Dietary patterns in North and South India: a comparison with EAT-Lancet dietary recommendations – Very few studies have compared Indian diets with the EAT-Lancet dietary recommendations. The present study performed such a comparison using primary dietary consumption data, finding that Indian diets were mainly plant-based, being high in dairy but lacking in nutrient-rich foods such as vegetables and fruits.

Determinants of dietary diversity and drivers of food choice among low-income consumers in urban Kenya, Malawi and Zimbabwe – From the Nairobi responses, convenience (40% of respondents) was the main factor influencing food choice, whereas price was the most important factor in Bulawayo (31% of respondents) and Lilongwe (67% of respondents). Price and convenience are important factors to consider for improving diet diversity in urban low-income settlements.

Open Access – The association between food environment, diet quality and malnutrition in low- and middle-income adult populations across the rural—Urban gradient in Vietnam – Geospatial mapping of food outlets and the Diet Quality Index were used. Longer distances to food outlets were associated with higher diet quality, whereas lower outlet density increased the odds of underweight among women. Socio-economic factors consistently correlated with diet quality and malnutrition.

Open Access – Local food procurement by hospitals: a scoping review – There is a paucity of peer-reviewed studies describing local food procurement by hospitals. Details of local food procurement models were generally lacking: categorisable as either purchases made ‘on-contract’ via conventional means or ‘off-contract’. If hospital foodservices are to increase their local food procurement, they require access to a suitable, reliable and traceable supply, that acknowledges their complexity and budgetary constraints.

Open Access – Benefits, limitations and implementation issues for integrating organic foods into hospital foodservices: a systematic review – This review identified opportunities for the implementation of organic foods into hospital foodservices, but there are numerous barriers to be overcome through strategies including organisational support and staff training.

Open Access – What is the climate footprint of therapeutic diets for people with chronic kidney disease? Results from an Australian analysis – The climate footprint of the current Australian diet, the usual renal diet, a plant-based renal diet and the Australian-adapted Planetary Health Diet were analysed. No diets were climate neutral. A plant-based renal diet was superior to usual care. Animal and discretionary foods increase the climate footprint.

Open Access – Moving towards more sustainable diets: Is there potential for a personalised approach in practice? Personalised nutrition feedback can be used to encourage change to more sustainable diets. Personalisation uses individual factors (e.g., sex, age, dietary intake, etc.) and relevant criteria (e.g., environmental impact, nutritional adequacy, healthfulness, diet acceptability) to provide an individual with actionable feedback recommendations for dietary change.

Open Access – Commercial weight-loss diets, greenhouse gas emissions and freshwater consumption – Commercial weight-loss diets had GHGe footprints on average 4.4 times the EAT-Lancet target recommended for planetary health. Bovine meat was by far the largest contributor of GHGe in most diets that included it. Three commercial diets had water footprints above the US baseline.

Sustainable diets among youth: Validity and reliability of a questionnaire assessing knowledge, attitudes, practices, and willingness to change – The study describes the validity and reliability of a questionnaire examining the perception of sustainable diets among youth in the United Arab Emirates. This tool is essential for the development of evidence-based interventions aiming to promote sustainable food consumption among young adults.

Open Access – Fix my food: An urgent call to action from adolescents on how they experience and want to see change in their food systems – Global food systems are failing adolescents. Workshops were conducted with 640 adolescents aged 10–19 years across 18 countries. Three key themes emerged, which included experiences of food, challenges to food systems and strengthening food systems. Adolescents called for inclusion in decision-making from local food practice to large global policy development.

Open Access – Nutrition quality and food and packaging waste associated with the school food system: A pilot, citizen science study in an Irish secondary school – This pilot study included adolescents as citizen scientists for a hands-on audit of waste and nutrition quality within their school food system. They were surprised and saddened to discover waste volume and contamination that prevented recycling or repurposing. Solutions proposed considered individual, community and organisational level factors.

Open Access – Collaborative leadership to support sustainability in practice for dietitians as allied health professionals – There is an urgent need for allied health professionals (AHP) to embrace the National Health Service Net Zero (Green) agenda. As advocates for environmentally sustainable diets and food systems, dietitians are well positioned to step into collaborative leadership roles as advocates for transformational change towards greener healthcare practices.

Open Access – The role of Australian civil society organisations in food system governance: Opportunities for collaboration in dietetics practice – A survey of 43 Australian civil society organisations (CSOs) identified their engagement with food system governance, including influencing policy outcomes, contributing to more inclusive and democratic forms of governance and leading community-based food system policies. Dietitians can engage with CSOs in education, research and advocacy roles for food system transformation.

Blue Foods as Medicine (2023 Oct)

Blue Foods as Medicine is a FREE, interactive, four-module online curriculum for health and nutrition professionals and students. The modules are 1: Blue Foods Foundation, 2: Sea Vegetables, 3: Bivalves, Clams, Oysters, Mussels; and 4: Integrating into Your Practice.

The modules are self-paced and evidence-based focused on actionable ways to implement concepts across a variety of settings. There are culturally diverse recipes & resources such as shopping guides, messaging tips, case studies, plus content and programming ideas.

The curriculum widens the food as medicine lens to include sustainability considerations and an array of aquatic foods. The content is open access and shareable, thoughtfully designed to advance your learning journey and drive positive community change.

Funded by Builders Initiative and created by Food for Climate League and Food + Planet.

For more on Blue Foods, see the #ICDAsfsToolkit Hot Topic Resource Cluster: Blue Foods.