Sustainable and Healthy Food Consumption – GEO2-2438
Course aims
1. Be able to critically evaluate how we draw conclusions about what and why
people consume
2. Understand factors that influence whether consumers have agency over what
choices they make
3. Understand how the brain responds to a food environment to create craving,
satiety, and disgust (smell, sight, taste, expectations, memories). Which role
hormones (like insulin, ghrelin, leptin, and cortisol) and neurotransmitters
(dopamine and serotonin) play in people’s food consumption behavior
4. Understand that food consumption has many other functions besides providing
nutrition (e/g/, hedonistic pleasure, signaling social status, emotional comfort,
social facilitation, expressing identity, etc.) Changing food consumption behavior
has, therefore also, implications for the other functions that food plays in
consumers’ life
5. Be able to apply behavioral insights to explain societal phenomena such as
household food waste, malnutrition in nursing homes, the rise (and fall) of food
trends, obesity in neighborhoods of low social and economic status, and meat
consumption, and differentiate between effective and ineffective
marketing/nudging
Assessment →
Final exam (40%)
Footprint calculator assignment (10%)
Group report (20%)
Myth-busting pitch (10%)
Lecture 1 – Course introduction: What is healthy and
sustainable food? – 3/2/2025
Food decisions
- On average 200 a day
Dual systems theory
- System 1 → when you go to the supermarket when you are very hungry
- System 2 → when you are on a diet and have to think about your food decisions
consciously
, - Food noise: heightened and/or persistent manifestations of food cue reactivity,
often leading to food-related intrusive thoughts and maladaptive eating
behaviors
- CIRO: Cue-Influencer-Reactivity-Outcome, developed to define ‘food noise’
- Pavlovian learning: direct association between food cues and food intake
- Operant conditioning: the reinforcement of food-seeking behaviors due to the
rewarding nature of palatable foods
Obesity epidemic
- BMI: body mass index (kg/m2)
- Overweight → BMI > 25
- Obesity → BMI > 30
Classifying food based on nutritional value
Macronutrients
- Fat
- Carbohydrates (of which sugars)
- Dietary fiber
- Proteins
- Fiber
- Salt
Micronutrients
- Vitamins
- Minerals
NOVA food classification
- Group 1 unprocessed or minimally processed food: food that did not undergo
processing or underwent minimal processing techniques, such as fractioning,
grinding, pasteurization, and others→ eggs, fruits, vegetables, legumes, grains,
beef, chicken, milk, nuts
- Group 2 processed culinary ingredients: These are obtained from minimally
processed foods and used to season, cook, and create culinary dishes → salt,
sugar, vegetable oils, butter, and other fats
, - Group 3 processed foods: These are unprocessed or minimally processed
foods or culinary dishes that have been added to processed culinary ingredients.
They are necessarily industrialized → bottled vegetables or meat in salt solution,
fruits in syrup or candy, bread, cheeses, purees, or pastes
- Group 4 ultra-processed foods: These are food products derived from foods or
parts of foods, being added cosmetic food additives not used in culinary →
breast milk substitutes, infant formulas, cookies, ice cream, shakes, ready-to-
eat meals, soft drinks/other sugary drinks, hamburgers, nuggets
Blue zones
- Regions of the world where people live longer and healthier lives than average
Food rules Michael Pollan
5 key takeaways
1. Eat food, not too much, mostly plants
2. Eating healthy is common sense. Do not make it complicated
3. Avoid processed foods and ingredients you do not recognize
4. Use meat for flavor, not the main course
5. Pay more, eat less
Fork Ranger
Tutorial 1 –
Traditional dietary assessment methods
1. Food Frequency questionnaires
- Fixed list of foods
- Interviewer-based or self-administered
- With or without quantification
- Habitual intake (past month, year)
2. Dietary history method
- Open-ended method
- Retrospective structure interview
- Detailed info on habitual intake (past month, year)
3. 24-hour recall
- Open-ended method
- Usually interviews by trained researcher
- Current or recent diet – the previous day
- Repeated 24H recall to obtain habitual intake
Real-time recording methods
1. Food Record/Diary
- Open-ended method
- Current or recent diet – real-time
- Two types of food diaries; (portion) weighed or estimated
- 7-day weighed food records → gold standard
2. Duplicate Portions
- Open-ended method
- Current or recent diet – real-time
- Collection of identical portions of food
- Homogenized, dried foods are chemically analyzed for nutrient composition
, - Very expensive
Reading lecture 2 – Chapter 29, LCA of Food and Agriculture
This chapter discusses the use of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to evaluate the
environmental impact of food products and agricultural systems.
1. How does an LCA help evaluate the environmental impact of food products?
LCA assesses the environmental impact of food products by analyzing their
entire life cycle, from input production to waste management. It helps identify
environmental hotspots, allowing for targeted interventions to reduce negative
impacts
2. Describe the key steps involved in conducting an LCA for a food product
- Goal and scope definition → establishes the study’s purpose and system
boundaries
- Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) → collects data on energy, water, and material flows
across the product’s life cycle
- Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) → evaluates environmental impacts such
as emissions and resource use
- Interpretation → analyses results to conclude and inform decisions
3. What are the main stages in the life cycle of food that an LCA would typically
consider?
- Inputs production and transportation (fertilizers, pesticides)
- Agricultural stage (crop cultivation, livestock rearing)
- Processing (turning raw products into consumable food)
- Distribution (transportation, packaging)
- Consumption (storage, cooking)
- Waste management (food waste disposal, wastewater treatment)
4. What types of environmental impacts are commonly assessed in LCAs of
food products?
- Global warming potential (carbon footprint)
- Acidification (soil and water acidification due to emissions)
- Eutrophication (nutrient pollution leading to algae blooms)
- Water use and scarcity impacts
- Land use and biodiversity loss
- Energy use and fossil fuel depletion
5. How does the transportation of food affect its overall environmental
footprint? According to LCA findings?
While transportation can contribute to emissions, it is often not the most crucial
factor in food sustainability. Instead, production methods and inputs typically
have a larger impact. However, air-freighted food products, such as fresh
vegetables from distant locations, can have disproportionately high footprints
6. Why might LCAs of different food products lead to different conclusions
about their sustainability, even if they seem similar?
LCA results can vary due to:
- Differences in functional units (e.g., per kg of food vs. per nutritional value)
- Variability in production systems (e.g., organic vs conventional farming)
- System boundaries are chosen (e.g., cradle-to-farm-gate vs. full life cycle
Course aims
1. Be able to critically evaluate how we draw conclusions about what and why
people consume
2. Understand factors that influence whether consumers have agency over what
choices they make
3. Understand how the brain responds to a food environment to create craving,
satiety, and disgust (smell, sight, taste, expectations, memories). Which role
hormones (like insulin, ghrelin, leptin, and cortisol) and neurotransmitters
(dopamine and serotonin) play in people’s food consumption behavior
4. Understand that food consumption has many other functions besides providing
nutrition (e/g/, hedonistic pleasure, signaling social status, emotional comfort,
social facilitation, expressing identity, etc.) Changing food consumption behavior
has, therefore also, implications for the other functions that food plays in
consumers’ life
5. Be able to apply behavioral insights to explain societal phenomena such as
household food waste, malnutrition in nursing homes, the rise (and fall) of food
trends, obesity in neighborhoods of low social and economic status, and meat
consumption, and differentiate between effective and ineffective
marketing/nudging
Assessment →
Final exam (40%)
Footprint calculator assignment (10%)
Group report (20%)
Myth-busting pitch (10%)
Lecture 1 – Course introduction: What is healthy and
sustainable food? – 3/2/2025
Food decisions
- On average 200 a day
Dual systems theory
- System 1 → when you go to the supermarket when you are very hungry
- System 2 → when you are on a diet and have to think about your food decisions
consciously
, - Food noise: heightened and/or persistent manifestations of food cue reactivity,
often leading to food-related intrusive thoughts and maladaptive eating
behaviors
- CIRO: Cue-Influencer-Reactivity-Outcome, developed to define ‘food noise’
- Pavlovian learning: direct association between food cues and food intake
- Operant conditioning: the reinforcement of food-seeking behaviors due to the
rewarding nature of palatable foods
Obesity epidemic
- BMI: body mass index (kg/m2)
- Overweight → BMI > 25
- Obesity → BMI > 30
Classifying food based on nutritional value
Macronutrients
- Fat
- Carbohydrates (of which sugars)
- Dietary fiber
- Proteins
- Fiber
- Salt
Micronutrients
- Vitamins
- Minerals
NOVA food classification
- Group 1 unprocessed or minimally processed food: food that did not undergo
processing or underwent minimal processing techniques, such as fractioning,
grinding, pasteurization, and others→ eggs, fruits, vegetables, legumes, grains,
beef, chicken, milk, nuts
- Group 2 processed culinary ingredients: These are obtained from minimally
processed foods and used to season, cook, and create culinary dishes → salt,
sugar, vegetable oils, butter, and other fats
, - Group 3 processed foods: These are unprocessed or minimally processed
foods or culinary dishes that have been added to processed culinary ingredients.
They are necessarily industrialized → bottled vegetables or meat in salt solution,
fruits in syrup or candy, bread, cheeses, purees, or pastes
- Group 4 ultra-processed foods: These are food products derived from foods or
parts of foods, being added cosmetic food additives not used in culinary →
breast milk substitutes, infant formulas, cookies, ice cream, shakes, ready-to-
eat meals, soft drinks/other sugary drinks, hamburgers, nuggets
Blue zones
- Regions of the world where people live longer and healthier lives than average
Food rules Michael Pollan
5 key takeaways
1. Eat food, not too much, mostly plants
2. Eating healthy is common sense. Do not make it complicated
3. Avoid processed foods and ingredients you do not recognize
4. Use meat for flavor, not the main course
5. Pay more, eat less
Fork Ranger
Tutorial 1 –
Traditional dietary assessment methods
1. Food Frequency questionnaires
- Fixed list of foods
- Interviewer-based or self-administered
- With or without quantification
- Habitual intake (past month, year)
2. Dietary history method
- Open-ended method
- Retrospective structure interview
- Detailed info on habitual intake (past month, year)
3. 24-hour recall
- Open-ended method
- Usually interviews by trained researcher
- Current or recent diet – the previous day
- Repeated 24H recall to obtain habitual intake
Real-time recording methods
1. Food Record/Diary
- Open-ended method
- Current or recent diet – real-time
- Two types of food diaries; (portion) weighed or estimated
- 7-day weighed food records → gold standard
2. Duplicate Portions
- Open-ended method
- Current or recent diet – real-time
- Collection of identical portions of food
- Homogenized, dried foods are chemically analyzed for nutrient composition
, - Very expensive
Reading lecture 2 – Chapter 29, LCA of Food and Agriculture
This chapter discusses the use of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to evaluate the
environmental impact of food products and agricultural systems.
1. How does an LCA help evaluate the environmental impact of food products?
LCA assesses the environmental impact of food products by analyzing their
entire life cycle, from input production to waste management. It helps identify
environmental hotspots, allowing for targeted interventions to reduce negative
impacts
2. Describe the key steps involved in conducting an LCA for a food product
- Goal and scope definition → establishes the study’s purpose and system
boundaries
- Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) → collects data on energy, water, and material flows
across the product’s life cycle
- Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) → evaluates environmental impacts such
as emissions and resource use
- Interpretation → analyses results to conclude and inform decisions
3. What are the main stages in the life cycle of food that an LCA would typically
consider?
- Inputs production and transportation (fertilizers, pesticides)
- Agricultural stage (crop cultivation, livestock rearing)
- Processing (turning raw products into consumable food)
- Distribution (transportation, packaging)
- Consumption (storage, cooking)
- Waste management (food waste disposal, wastewater treatment)
4. What types of environmental impacts are commonly assessed in LCAs of
food products?
- Global warming potential (carbon footprint)
- Acidification (soil and water acidification due to emissions)
- Eutrophication (nutrient pollution leading to algae blooms)
- Water use and scarcity impacts
- Land use and biodiversity loss
- Energy use and fossil fuel depletion
5. How does the transportation of food affect its overall environmental
footprint? According to LCA findings?
While transportation can contribute to emissions, it is often not the most crucial
factor in food sustainability. Instead, production methods and inputs typically
have a larger impact. However, air-freighted food products, such as fresh
vegetables from distant locations, can have disproportionately high footprints
6. Why might LCAs of different food products lead to different conclusions
about their sustainability, even if they seem similar?
LCA results can vary due to:
- Differences in functional units (e.g., per kg of food vs. per nutritional value)
- Variability in production systems (e.g., organic vs conventional farming)
- System boundaries are chosen (e.g., cradle-to-farm-gate vs. full life cycle
