The Great Food Conundrum:Health vs SustainabilityDr Christian Reynolds Knowledge Exchange Research Fellow (N8 AgriFood project)Department of Geography, University of Sheffield
@sartorialfoodie
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Securing sustainable, resilient & healthy food supplies for all
Talk outline
• Who am I?• Why do we have a diet conundrum?• The difference between sustainable healthy foods and diets• How can we shift towards a sustainable healthy diet?• Final thoughts…
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Securing sustainable, resilient & healthy food supplies for all
Who am I?Knowledge Exchange Research Fellow(N8 AgriFood project, Theme 3: Improved nutrition and consumer behaviour)
Research areas:• Healthy Sustainable Diets and Food Consumption
Food WasteHousehold food insecurityEating out/takeaway Food Price
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Securing sustainable, resilient & healthy food supplies for all
The N8 AgriFood aim:
To combine world-leading research, in cooperation with agri-food and nutritional stakeholders, to ensure secure sustainable, resilient and healthy food supplies for all.
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Securing sustainable, resilient & healthy food supplies for all
• Food security:‘physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet people’s dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life.’ WHO
• Those with poor access to food security are also least likely to have access to affordable solutions (SUSTAINABLE NUTRITION)
• The N8 focus:• consumers’ dietary needs (innovation in food)• food preferences (health sustainable choices)• public health (policy, practices and intervention)
The Individual
The Situation
The Context
Social Norms
Economic drivers
Policy
N8 AgriFood Approach: Better Nutrition, Better Health
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Securing sustainable, resilient & healthy food supplies for all
Diet conundrum?
Not as simple as Unhealthy vs Healthy…
So, how did we get here?
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Securing sustainable, resilient & healthy food supplies for all
The price and quantity of food produced is changing…
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Securing sustainable, resilient & healthy food supplies for all
How (and where) we purchase food is changing…
UK % market share of supermarkets – Groceries market (yearly average values). Sources, Kantar, IGD http://www.fooddeserts.org/images/supshare.htm, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/11057120/The-rise-and-fall-of-British-supermarkets.html
Online deliveries 5% of market share could be 20% by 2025
75% of the population eating out of home at least once in seven days in 2014, rising from 65% in 2010.
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The UK Diet is changing…
1974 to 2014
Source: DEFRA Family food open datahttps://data.gov.uk/dataset/family_food_open_data
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Securing sustainable, resilient & healthy food supplies for all
A change in the UK diet (g per week)
Source: DEFRA Family food open datahttps://data.gov.uk/dataset/family_food_open_data
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Securing sustainable, resilient & healthy food supplies for all
Our waist lines are changing…
5% of NHS spending is on treating obesity related illness
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The climate is changing…
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Food production and Climatic change are linked
Wheeler, Tim, and Joachim Von Braun. "Climate change impacts on global food security." Science341.6145 (2013): 508-513.
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Securing sustainable, resilient & healthy food supplies for all
We need to shift to a sustainable diet
Source: Johnston, et al Advances in Nutrition: An International Review Journal 5.4 (2014): 418-429.
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We need to shift to a healthy diet
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Securing sustainable, resilient & healthy food supplies for all
Climate change and diet
UK food system 9% -20% of total UK GHGE from agriculture/food system.
Paris Targets 57% reduction from 1990 values by 2032, and an 80% reduction by 2050
4.14 kgCO2e/person/day reduced to 1.78kgCO2e/person/day (57% reduction)
Dietary, and technological change is needed.
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Securing sustainable, resilient & healthy food supplies for all
A sustainable healthy diet
versus
sustainable healthy food
The Livewell diet - 2012
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Securing sustainable, resilient & healthy food supplies for all
Source: NDNS translated to HDI score matched with GHGE from Audsley 2010 (modifications by Horgan, Whybrow, and Macdiarmid 2016)
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Securing sustainable, resilient & healthy food supplies for all
Animal products = high impacts• Animal products have consistently reported a high(er)
environmental impact
30kg CO2 equivalents/kg product
2.3kg CO2 equivalents/kg product
Carlsson-Kanyama A, González AD. Am J Clin Nutr. 2009;89(5); Carlsson-Kanyama A. Food Policy. 1998;23(3)
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Securing sustainable, resilient & healthy food supplies for all
Animal products = high impacts• Animal products have consistently reported a high(er)
environmental impact
Carlsson-Kanyama A, González AD. Am J Clin Nutr. 2009;89(5); Carlsson-Kanyama A. Food Policy. 1998;23(3)
30kg CO2 equivalents/kg product
2.3kg CO2 equivalents/kg product
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There are lots of ways to express environmental impact
ProductionWeights
(g, tonnes, yield)
ConsumptionPortions, (meals, snacks)
PhysiologyEnergy
(kJ, kcal)
EconomicsPrice, £, $
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Do we eat in calories? In 100g? In £’s? No, we eat meals!
Is it realistic to replace the equivalent energy of animal products with vegetables?
100 calories of BEEF vs CUCUMBER
Can we visualise health and sustainability?Consumers are equating one with the other.
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Different foods have different environmental impacts
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
1.2
1.4
Starchy foods Fruit andvegetables
Milk and dairyfoods
Meat, fish andeggs
Non-animalsources of
protein
Fats anddiscretionary
foods
kg C
O2e
per
FU
Median
kgCO2e per 100g kgCO2e per MJ kgCO2e per portion kgCO2e per £
Median GHGE (kgCO2e) of the four functional units at the food category level .
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Different foods have different environmental impacts
kgCO2e per 100g kgCO2e per MJ kgCO2e per portion kgCO2e per £
Median GHGE (kgCO2e) of the four functional units for four common foods .
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
Butter Rice Pepper Lamb
kg C
O2e
per
FU
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Changing toward a Sustainable diet (low GHGE diet)
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40 42 44 46 48 50 52 54 56 58 60 62
kgC
O2e
/day
Lower bound %
Optimised diet, UK Average, No cost constraintOptimised diet, UK Average, Cost constraint £4.47/day 2013 diet, UK Average, 2.79kg CO2e/day57% GHGE reduction from 1990 level, 1.78kg CO2e/day
Impact on GHGE and cost associated with lower bounds of the different diets. GHGE associated with different lower bound scenario optimised diets.
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Changing toward a Sustainable diet (low GHGE diet)
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500
Starchy foods including potatoes and breakfast cereals
Vegetables
Fruits (Inc. fruit juice)
Milk
Other Dairy Products
Red Meat
White meat
Processed meat
Seafood
Nuts, Seeds, Beans and Legumes (Inc. soya milk, soya mince…
Eggs
Butter, margarine, and oils
High fat and Sweet foods (Inc. cream)
Alcohol
Beverages (tea, coffee, Soft drinks)
Total
Food purchases by UK household in g /person/day
Diet to meet 5th carbon budget Typical UK 2013 diet
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Securing sustainable, resilient & healthy food supplies for all
Changing toward a Sustainable diet (low GHGE diet)
0.00 0.50 1.00 1.50 2.00 2.50 3.00
Starchy foods including potatoes and breakfast cereals
Vegetables
Fruits (Inc. fruit juice)
Milk
Other Dairy Products
Red Meat
White meat
Processed meat
Seafood
Nuts, Seeds, Beans and Legumes (Inc. soya milk, soya mince…
Eggs
Butter, margarine, and oils
High fat and Sweet foods (Inc. cream)
Alcohol
Beverages (tea, coffee, Soft drinks)
Total
Food purchases by UK household in GHGE kg CO2e /person/day
Diet to meet 5th carbon budget Typical UK 2013 diet
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Securing sustainable, resilient & healthy food supplies for all
Good news: Sustainable diets are achievable (Reynolds 2016)
✓ Increase Fruit and Vegetable consumption.
✓ Increase in Starchy Foods.
✓ Decrease processed and red meats, substitute chicken or plant based alternatives.
✓ Reduce “discretionary” high fat and high sugar foods is eaten.
✓ Reduce alcoholic, non alcoholic and hot beverages.
Between ⅓-½ shift of current diet.
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Securing sustainable, resilient & healthy food supplies for all
Final thought #1…How we cook our food matters
Energy used for ingredients and for cooking (MJ) Roast beef and Yorkshire pudding in the traditional “hot oven” method (a) Williams, Audsleyand Sandars (2006) and b) May, Adams, and Plackett (2013)) with median timings, and in the 8 scenarios.
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Final thought #2… the food we waste matters
Source: WRAP, 2009, Household Food and Drink Waste in the UK. Report prepared by WRAP. Banbury.