The Great Food Conundrum: Health vs Sustainability Dr Christian Reynolds Knowledge Exchange Research Fellow (N8 AgriFood project) Department of Geography, University of Sheffield @sartorialfoodie
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 2 www.n8agrifood.ac.uk
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 Waste Household food insecurity Eating out/takeaway Food Price 3 www.n8agrifood.ac.uk
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. 4 www.n8agrifood.ac.uk
N8 AgriFood Approach: Better Nutrition, Better Health 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 5 www.n8agrifood.ac.uk
Diet conundrum? Not as simple as Unhealthy vs Healthy So, how did we get here? 6 www.n8agrifood.ac.uk
The price and quantity of food produced is changing 7 www.n8agrifood.ac.uk
How (and where) we purchase food is changing Online deliveries 5% of market share could be 20% by 2025 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-britishsupermarkets.html 75% of the population eating out of home at least once in seven days in 2014, rising from 65% in 2010. 8 www.n8agrifood.ac.uk
The UK Diet is changing 1974 to 2014 Source: DEFRA Family food open data https://data.gov.uk/dataset/family_food_open_data 9 www.n8agrifood.ac.uk
A change in the UK diet (g per week) Source: DEFRA Family food open data https://data.gov.uk/dataset/family_food_open_data 10 www.n8agrifood.ac.uk
Our waist lines are changing 5% of NHS spending is on treating obesity related illness 11 www.n8agrifood.ac.uk
The climate is changing 12 www.n8agrifood.ac.uk
Food production and Climatic change are linked Securing sustainable, resilient Wheeler, Tim, and Joachim Von Braun. "Climate change impacts on global food security." Science 341.6145 (2013): 508-513. 13 www.n8agrifood.ac.uk
We need to shift to a sustainable diet Source: Johnston, et al Advances in Nutrition: An International Review Journal 5.4 (2014): 418-429. 14 www.n8agrifood.ac.uk
We need to shift to a healthy diet 15 www.n8agrifood.ac.uk
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 kgco 2 e / person/day reduced to 1.78kgCO 2 e / person/day (57% reduction) Dietary, and technological change is needed. 16 www.n8agrifood.ac.uk
A sustainable healthy diet versus sustainable healthy food The Livewell diet - 2012 17 www.n8agrifood.ac.uk
Source: NDNS translated to HDI score matched with GHGE from Audsley 2010 (modifications by Horgan, Whybrow, and Macdiarmid 2016) 18 www.n8agrifood.ac.uk
Animal products = high impacts Animal products have consistently reported a high(er) environmental impact 30 kg CO 2 equivalents/kg product 2.3 kg CO 2 equivalents/kg product Carlsson-Kanyama A, González AD. Am J Clin Nutr. 2009;89(5); Carlsson-Kanyama A. Food Policy. 1998;23(3) 19 www.n8agrifood.ac.uk
Animal products = high impacts Animal products have consistently reported a high(er) environmental impact 30 kg CO 2 equivalents/kg product 2.3 kg CO 2 equivalents/kg product Carlsson-Kanyama A, González AD. Am J Clin Nutr. 2009;89(5); Carlsson-Kanyama A. Food Policy. 1998;23(3) 20 www.n8agrifood.ac.uk
There are lots of ways to express environmental impact Production Weights (g, tonnes, yield) Physiology Energy (kj, kcal) Consumption Portions, (meals, snacks) Economics Price,, $ 21 www.n8agrifood.ac.uk
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. 22 www.n8agrifood.ac.uk
Different foods have different environmental impacts kg CO 2 e per FU 1.4 1.2 1 0.8 Median 0.6 0.4 0.2 0 Starchy foods Fruit and vegetables Milk and dairy foods Meat, fish and eggs Non-animal sources of protein Fats and discretionary foods kgco2e per 100g kgco2e per MJ kgco2e per portion kgco2e per Median GHGE (kgco2e) of the four functional units at the food category level. 23 www.n8agrifood.ac.uk
Different foods have different environmental impacts 3.5 3 2.5 kg CO 2 e per FU 2 1.5 1 0.5 0 Butter Rice Pepper Lamb kgco2e per 100g kgco2e per MJ kgco2e per portion kgco2e per Median GHGE (kgco2e) of the four functional units for four common foods. 24 www.n8agrifood.ac.uk
Changing toward a Sustainable diet (low GHGE diet) 3 kgco 2 e/day 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 0 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 Lower bound % Optimised diet, UK Average, No cost constraint Optimised diet, UK Average, Cost constraint 4.47/day 2013 diet, UK Average, 2.79kg CO2e/day 57% 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. 25 www.n8agrifood.ac.uk
Changing toward a Sustainable diet (low GHGE diet) Food purchases by UK household in g /person/day Total Beverages (tea, coffee, Soft drinks) Alcohol High fat and Sweet foods (Inc. cream) Butter, margarine, and oils Eggs Nuts, Seeds, Beans and Legumes (Inc. soya milk, soya mince Seafood Processed meat White meat Red Meat Other Dairy Products Milk Fruits (Inc. fruit juice) Vegetables Starchy foods including potatoes and breakfast cereals 0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 Diet to meet 5th carbon budget Typical UK 2013 diet 26 www.n8agrifood.ac.uk
Changing toward a Sustainable diet (low GHGE diet) Food purchases by UK household in GHGE kg CO 2 e /person/day Total Beverages (tea, coffee, Soft drinks) Alcohol High fat and Sweet foods (Inc. cream) Butter, margarine, and oils Eggs Nuts, Seeds, Beans and Legumes (Inc. soya milk, soya mince Seafood Processed meat White meat Red Meat Other Dairy Products Milk Fruits (Inc. fruit juice) Vegetables Starchy foods including potatoes and breakfast cereals 0.00 0.50 1.00 1.50 2.00 2.50 3.00 Diet to meet 5th carbon budget Typical UK 2013 diet 27 www.n8agrifood.ac.uk
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. 28 www.n8agrifood.ac.uk
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, Audsley and Sandars (2006) and b) May, Adams, and Plackett (2013)) with median timings, and in the 8 scenarios. 29 www.n8agrifood.ac.uk
Final thought #2 the food we waste matters Source: WRAP, 2009, Household Food and Drink Waste in the UK. Report prepared by WRAP. Banbury. 30 www.n8agrifood.ac.uk
Thank you! Dr Christian Reynolds Knowledge Exchange Research Fellow (N8 AgriFood project) Department of Geography, University of Sheffield @sartorialfoodie 31 www.n8agrifood.ac.uk