Territorial and Sustainable Healthy Diets

Area of Science:

• Nutrition Science
• Environmental Science
• Sociology

Background:

• Societal changes and altered dietary habits have increased malnutrition and environmental degradation.
• Territorial diets, such as the Mediterranean Diet and New Nordic Diet, show potential for positive health and environmental impacts.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review the health, nutritional, environmental, sociocultural, and economic contributions of the Mediterranean Diet and New Nordic Diet.
• To propose indicators for assessing the sustainability of these diets.

Main Methods:

• Literature review of existing studies on the Mediterranean Diet and New Nordic Diet.
• Analysis of health, nutrition, environmental, sociocultural, and economic impacts.
• Identification and proposal of relevant sustainability indicators.

Main Results:

• Both diets positively influence human health and nutrition.
• These diets demonstrate significant benefits for environmental, sociocultural, and economic sustainability.
• Key factors for success include sociocultural integration, appropriate tools, cross-sector collaboration, and policy support.

Conclusions:

• Culturally established and constructed diets offer valuable lessons for achieving health and sustainability goals.
• Achieving better health and sustainability outcomes requires sociocultural appropriation, robust indicators, interdisciplinary collaboration, and supportive policies.