Designing a healthy, low-cost and environmentally sustainable food basket

An optimisation study

Bibliographic Data

ID15093993
AuthorsHassan Eini-Zinab (0000-0002-6895-034X, National Nutrition and Food Technology Research Institute), Seyyed Reza Sobhani (0000-0002-7308-8504, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, corresponding author), Arezoo Rezazadeh (0000-0003-2218-8705, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences)
Year2021
Volume24
Issue7
Pages1952-1961
Publication date2021-05-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenuePublic Health Nutrition (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1368-9800 • E-ISSN: 1475-2727
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s1368980020003729
PMID33118911
OpenAlexW3097149170
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited32

Objective: Sustainable diets are diets with low environmental impacts and high affordability which contribute to food and nutrition security. The present study aimed to develop a healthy, low-cost and environmental-friendly food basket for Iran based on current consumption. Design: The Households Income and Expenditure Survey data were used. Linear Programming was utilised to obtain the optimal diets, separately, for each goal of the sustainable food basket: (1) Diet with maximum Nutrient Rich Food (NRF) index, (2) Diet with minimum cost, (3) Diet with the minimum water footprint and (4) Diet with the minimum carbon footprint. Goal Programming techniques were used to optimise the sustainable food basket by considering all goals simultaneously. Setting: Iran. Participants: Households ( n 100 500) in urban and rural areas of Iran, nationally representative. Results: In the ‘optimal model’, compared with the usual consumption, the amount of the ‘bread, cereal, rice, and pasta’, ‘meat, poultry, fish, eggs, legumes, and nuts’ and ‘fats, oils, sugars, and sweets’ groups was decreased. Inside those food groups, cereals, poultry and vegetable oil subgroups were increased. Also, dairy, fruits and vegetable groups were increased. In this model, there was a 14 % reduction in the total water footprint, a 14 % decrease in the total carbon footprint, a 23 % decrease in the cost and a 7 % increase in NRF of diet compared with the usual consumption. Conclusions: Increasing the consumption of dairy, fruits and vegetables and reducing the consumption of bread, rice, pasta, meat, fish, eggs, legumes, nuts, hydrogenated fats and sugars are required to achieve a sustainable food basket

Agricultural science · Agriculture · Biology · Business · Carbon Footprint · Consumption (sociology · Environmental health · Food group · Food security · Geography · Greenhouse gas · Agriculture Sustainability and Environmental Impact · Environmental Science · Food Waste Reduction and Sustainability · Medicine · Sustainable Development and Environmental Policy · Food Science

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