Food for Thought
Lecture 1: Introduction to course and projects
4 topics related to food choice and dietary behavior:
1. The socio-cultural environment
2. The physical environment
3. Sensory aspects
4. Sustainability
What we eat is important, so organizations like UN bother:
- United Nations states: “Our health and what we eat are inextricably linked. (...) But
what and how we eat is just as important to planetary health, and right now our
diets are helping to create a sickly Earth.
- “WFP provides lifesaving food assistance to millions across the world – often in
extremely dangerous and hard-to-access conditions –”
Food choice influences health
- Nutrition is an important factor in the burden of disease
- Suboptimal diet is second-leading risk factor for deaths globally, accounting for
almost 1 in 5 of all deaths
- Diseases related to nutrition:
o Cancer, CVD, Diabetes, osteoporosis, dental problems, nutritional
deficiencies
Food choice influences environment
- Unfair trade
- Food industry, pollution, and GM
- Food waste
- Food mile
Environment influences food choice
- Food industry influences food choice health
- Different policy sectors influence nutrition and health (for example subsidizing
certain agricultural crops)
Many different dietary habits populations and across cultures and countries
Logic model of change
- Targeting the right determinants is crucial or effective solutions
- People in research, policy and practice concerned with health are always looking for
o These determinants
o How they affect dietary behaviors
o And how that effects health
- To study this, theoretical models help
1
,Lecture 2: Sustainability
1. Framing the present-day challenges
Maltthus Hypothesis: (see graph)
External pressures to food production:
- population growth, urbanization, economic development, globalization
- climate change, water stress and environmental degradation
There is a strong evidence of structural crisis in the food system
- Food is a key driver of problems for health
o Triple burden of malnutrition: undernutrition, micronutrient deficiencies,
overweight and obesity more prone to infectious diseases and chronic
diseases
o Poor diet & diet-related risks top drivers of global burden of disease
- Food is a key driver of problems for economics
o Primary porducersat a disadvantage
o Rising health care costs (due to long (and unequal) food supply chain)
- Food is a key driver of problems for society
o Child labor, unsafe work places etc
o Access to safe and healthy food not equal for everyone
Widening disparity gaps
2 billion people did not have regular access to nutritious or sufficient food in 2019
Acute threaths to food security
Covid-19 pandemic:
- Food is a key driver of problems for environment
o Climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution, eutrophication, resource
depletion (land, water, fuel, phosphate and other nutrients)
o Food waste
Globally, 30% cultivated food for human consumption is lost or
wasted (20% food produced in EU is lost or wasted)
Waste of resources (land, water, energy etc)
GHGEs from wasted production but also from landfill (6% of the total
EU GHGE) = greenhouse gass emissions
Repercussions on hunger and poverty alleviation, nutrition, economic
growth
2. Food system & sustainability
The food system: encompasse all the stages of keeping us fed
Input production processing& distribution marketingcostumer/waste
The food system is
- Multi-faceted
2
, - Complex
- Dynamix
- Adaptive
Sustainability: “Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the
present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”
Does not fit the complexity raised by challenges of sustainability in diets or the wider
food system
Sustainable nutrition = nutrition that is good for health and the environment
Sustainable diets:
- food and nutrient needs, food security, accessibility
- Well-being health
- Biodiversity, environment, climate
- Equity, fair trade
- Cultural heritage, skills
- Eco-friendly, local, seasonal foods
3. Environmental impact on food
Calculating environmental impact of diets
- Impacts measured by indicatrs
o Pollution(greenhouse gases climate change, nitrogen &phosphorus
eutrophication)
o Resource depletion (eg land, fuel, water)
- Methods
o Life cycle assessment (LCA) – cradle to farm gate, cradle to grave
o Input-output analysis – involves use of aggregate sector- level data on how
much environmental impact can be attributed to each sector
o Integrated assessments – global equilibrium models
Life-cycle assessment (LCA)
- A lot of variation and uncertainty in estimates
o Complex agricultural systems
o Definition of functional unit - per 100 g food or per 100 kcal?
o Underlyingassumptions vary
o Broad range of boundaries (e.g. cradle to farm-gate vs. cradle to grave)
Environmental indicators in relation to diet
- Resource depletion
o Land use
38% global land surface used for agriculture, of which 1/3 is used for
crops and 2/3 used for grazing livestock
Agriculture is estimated to be responsible for 80% deforestation
worldwide
3
Lecture 1: Introduction to course and projects
4 topics related to food choice and dietary behavior:
1. The socio-cultural environment
2. The physical environment
3. Sensory aspects
4. Sustainability
What we eat is important, so organizations like UN bother:
- United Nations states: “Our health and what we eat are inextricably linked. (...) But
what and how we eat is just as important to planetary health, and right now our
diets are helping to create a sickly Earth.
- “WFP provides lifesaving food assistance to millions across the world – often in
extremely dangerous and hard-to-access conditions –”
Food choice influences health
- Nutrition is an important factor in the burden of disease
- Suboptimal diet is second-leading risk factor for deaths globally, accounting for
almost 1 in 5 of all deaths
- Diseases related to nutrition:
o Cancer, CVD, Diabetes, osteoporosis, dental problems, nutritional
deficiencies
Food choice influences environment
- Unfair trade
- Food industry, pollution, and GM
- Food waste
- Food mile
Environment influences food choice
- Food industry influences food choice health
- Different policy sectors influence nutrition and health (for example subsidizing
certain agricultural crops)
Many different dietary habits populations and across cultures and countries
Logic model of change
- Targeting the right determinants is crucial or effective solutions
- People in research, policy and practice concerned with health are always looking for
o These determinants
o How they affect dietary behaviors
o And how that effects health
- To study this, theoretical models help
1
,Lecture 2: Sustainability
1. Framing the present-day challenges
Maltthus Hypothesis: (see graph)
External pressures to food production:
- population growth, urbanization, economic development, globalization
- climate change, water stress and environmental degradation
There is a strong evidence of structural crisis in the food system
- Food is a key driver of problems for health
o Triple burden of malnutrition: undernutrition, micronutrient deficiencies,
overweight and obesity more prone to infectious diseases and chronic
diseases
o Poor diet & diet-related risks top drivers of global burden of disease
- Food is a key driver of problems for economics
o Primary porducersat a disadvantage
o Rising health care costs (due to long (and unequal) food supply chain)
- Food is a key driver of problems for society
o Child labor, unsafe work places etc
o Access to safe and healthy food not equal for everyone
Widening disparity gaps
2 billion people did not have regular access to nutritious or sufficient food in 2019
Acute threaths to food security
Covid-19 pandemic:
- Food is a key driver of problems for environment
o Climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution, eutrophication, resource
depletion (land, water, fuel, phosphate and other nutrients)
o Food waste
Globally, 30% cultivated food for human consumption is lost or
wasted (20% food produced in EU is lost or wasted)
Waste of resources (land, water, energy etc)
GHGEs from wasted production but also from landfill (6% of the total
EU GHGE) = greenhouse gass emissions
Repercussions on hunger and poverty alleviation, nutrition, economic
growth
2. Food system & sustainability
The food system: encompasse all the stages of keeping us fed
Input production processing& distribution marketingcostumer/waste
The food system is
- Multi-faceted
2
, - Complex
- Dynamix
- Adaptive
Sustainability: “Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the
present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”
Does not fit the complexity raised by challenges of sustainability in diets or the wider
food system
Sustainable nutrition = nutrition that is good for health and the environment
Sustainable diets:
- food and nutrient needs, food security, accessibility
- Well-being health
- Biodiversity, environment, climate
- Equity, fair trade
- Cultural heritage, skills
- Eco-friendly, local, seasonal foods
3. Environmental impact on food
Calculating environmental impact of diets
- Impacts measured by indicatrs
o Pollution(greenhouse gases climate change, nitrogen &phosphorus
eutrophication)
o Resource depletion (eg land, fuel, water)
- Methods
o Life cycle assessment (LCA) – cradle to farm gate, cradle to grave
o Input-output analysis – involves use of aggregate sector- level data on how
much environmental impact can be attributed to each sector
o Integrated assessments – global equilibrium models
Life-cycle assessment (LCA)
- A lot of variation and uncertainty in estimates
o Complex agricultural systems
o Definition of functional unit - per 100 g food or per 100 kcal?
o Underlyingassumptions vary
o Broad range of boundaries (e.g. cradle to farm-gate vs. cradle to grave)
Environmental indicators in relation to diet
- Resource depletion
o Land use
38% global land surface used for agriculture, of which 1/3 is used for
crops and 2/3 used for grazing livestock
Agriculture is estimated to be responsible for 80% deforestation
worldwide
3
