Exploring Nutrient-Adequate Sustainable Diet Scenarios That Are Plant-Based but Animal-Optimized

Area of Science:

• Dietary sustainability
• Nutritional adequacy
• Linear programming applications

Background:

• Sustainable food system transitions often focus narrowly on plant-based vs. animal-based diets.
• Environmental impact assessments typically use single-product data, neglecting diet composition and affordability.
• Nutrient adequacy and cost are critical factors often overlooked in sustainability debates.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the impact of dietary shifts on environmental footprint and cost using linear programming.
• To analyze how changes in specific food group consumption affect a nutrient-adequate diet in the Netherlands.
• To assess the interplay between environmental impact, price, and nutritional completeness of diets.

Main Methods:

• Utilized the Optimeal 2.0 linear programming system.
• Modeled dietary patterns based on the Dutch diet.
• Investigated the effects of altering contributions from key food groups.

Main Results:

• Reducing meat decreased environmental impact but increased diet cost.
• Lowering or omitting dairy did not significantly alter environmental impact but notably raised prices.
• Increasing fruits/vegetables raised costs without impacting environmental footprint or legume intake.

Conclusions:

• Product-level sustainability assessments are insufficient; dietary context is crucial.
• Affordability and consumer preferences must guide dietary sustainability initiatives.
• Holistic approaches are needed to balance environmental, nutritional, and economic aspects of food systems.