Scoping
Activities:
Several workshops were held that brought together key stakeholders and experts across the agricultural, public health, environmental and social sciences to understand the issues and research questions pertinent to MLA’s nutrition program.
Key Findings:
The discussion highlighted the complexity of the topic and the need to focus on the environmental impact of healthy diets and implications for nutrition communications.
For more information:
For more information about these activities, contact nutrition@mla.com.au
Knowledge & interests
Activities:
Several surveys were conducted by Deakin University to determine how nutrition communications should frame information about sustainable diets. The surveys considered the perspective of the general public and of dietitians on sustainability and agricultural issues.
Key Findings:
The findings suggest strong support for farming and farmers and interest in but poor knowledge of agriculture. Providing information about sustainability within the context of food security is most relevant to both dietitians and the general public, particularly in relation to access and affordability of healthy foods. The relative interest in health and nutrition compared to that of environmental impacts and animal welfares is consistent with findings reported in more recent studies (see MLA Healthy Meals Report) and is consistent with those reported by others.
Publications:
Worsley A, Wang W, Ridley S. Australian consumers’ perceptions of environmental and agricultural threats: The associations of demographic and of psychographic variables. Am J Env Protection. 2014; 3(1):10-18; doi:10.11648/j.ajep.20140301.12
Worsley A, Wang W, Ridley S. Australian adults’ knowledge of Australian agriculture. Brit Food J 2015.117(1):400-411. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/BFJ-07-2013-0175
Worsley A, Droulez V, Ridley S, Wang W. Dietitians’ interests in primary food production: opportunities for greater involvement in the promotion of environmental sustainability. J of Hunger & Env Nutrition. 2014. 9 (1):64-80. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/19320248.2013.873010
Sustainable diets
Activities:
An integrative review of the scientific literature was conducted by CSIRO to identify knowledge gaps in relation to the coverage of environmental concerns and the type of metrics used.
Key Findings:
The findings found limited evidence on sustainable diets and a disconnect between the science informing strategic climate action in the agricultural sector and the science informing public health nutrition. It highlighted the importance of using metrics that are appropriate in a life-cycle context; and using data representative of regional production and consumption practices. The authors recommended using a shared-knowledge framework that combines dietary and environmental objectives for several indicators in addition to greenhouse gas emissions, particularly natural resources important for food production such as water and cropland scarcity impacts.
Publications:
Ridoutt B, Hendrie G, Noakes M. Dietary strategies to reduce environmental impact: A critical review of the evidence base. Adv Nutr. 2017 Nov 15;8(6):933-946. https://doi.org/10.3945/an.117.016691
Environmental indicators
Activities:
Several life-cycle studies were conducted by CSIRO to determine the most appropriate metrics for evaluating the impact of several environmental indicators within the context of the Australian diet, including climate, cropland, water and pesticide toxicity.
Key Findings:
The findings highlight the importance of using metrics that are aligned to environmental objectives associated with achieving sustainable production and consumption of healthy diets.
Publications:
Ridoutt B, Huang J. Three main ingredients for sustainable diet research. Environ Sci Technol. 2019 Mar 19;53(6):2948-2949. Available from https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.9b00935
Ridoutt B, Hadjikakou M, Nolan M, Bryan B. From water use to water scarcity foot printing in environmentally extended input-output analysis. Environ Sci Technol. 2018 Jun 19;52(12):6761-6770. https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.8b00416
Ridoutt B, Garcia JN. Cropland footprints from the perspective of productive land scarcity, malnutrition-related health impacts and biodiversity loss. J Clean Prod. 2020 Jul 1;260 (121150):1-9. http://researcher-app.com/paper/4672773
Ridoutt B, Huang J. When climate metrics and climate stabilization goals do not align. Environ Sci Technol. 2019 Dec 17;53(24):14093-14094. https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.9b06593.
Ridoutt B. Climate neutral livestock production – A radiative forcing-based climate footprint approach. J Clean Prod 2021 Nov;291:125260. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.125260
Environmental impact of the Australian diet
Activities:
Several life-cycle studies were conducted that describe the environmental impact of the Australian diet.
Key Findings:
The findings highlight the importance of measuring several environmental indicators because their impacts are different and can result in trade-offs. They also highlight the wide variability in dietary patterns in the Australian diet and the challenges of aligning dietary and several environmental objectives.
Publications:
Hendrie GA, Ridoutt BG, Wiedmann TO, Noakes M. Greenhouse gas emissions and the Australian diet – comparing dietary recommendations with average intakes. Nutrients. 2014 6,289-303; doi:10.3390/nu6010289
Hendrie G, Baird D, Ridoutt B, Hadjikakou M, Noakes M. Overconsumption of energy and excessive discretionary food intake inflates dietary greenhouse gas emissions in Australia. Nutrients. 2016 Oct 31;8(11):690. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu8110690
Ridoutt B, Baird D, Anastasiou K, Hendrie G. Diet quality and water scarcity: Evidence from a large Australian population health survey. Nutrients. 2019 Aug 9;11(8):1846. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu11081846
Australian diet and planetary boundaries
Activities:
Life-cycle studies were conducted by CSIRO that describes the environmental impact of the Australian diet relative to planetary boundaries.
Key Findings:
The findings showed that the environmental impact of the current Australian diet is within planetary boundaries for freshwater, marginally exceeding the cropland boundary and entirely exceeding the climate change planetary boundary. Consumption of discretionary foods had the highest impact across all three environmental indicators with the amount of food consumed relative to amounts recommended in the Australian Dietary Guidelines, the main dietary determinant. The findings provide a framework for modelling dietary strategies for achieving a healthy diet within planetary boundaries.
Publications:
Ridoutt B, Baird D, Anastasiou K, Hendrie G. An assessment of the water use associated with Australian diets using a planetary boundary framework. Public Health Nutr. 2021 Apr;24(6):1570-1575. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1368980021000483
Ridoutt B, Anastasiou K, Baird D, Garcia JN, Hendrie G. Cropland footprints of Australian dietary choices. Nutrients. 2020 Apr 25;12(5):1212. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu12051212
Ridoutt B, Baird D, Hendrie G. Diets within environmental limits: The climate impact of current and recommended Australian diets. Nutrients. 2021 Mar 29;13(4):1122. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13041122
Healthy and sustainable diet strategies
Activities:
CSIRO developed a weighted environmental impact score to assess the potential for dietary change to concurrently reduce environmental impacts across three indicators (climate, water and cropland scarcity) as well as improve diet quality in line with the Australian Dietary Guidelines.
Key Findings:
The findings show that the larger share of impact reduction must occur through production and waste reduction strategies. It found that the environmental impact of dietary changes was modest and that reducing intake of red meat below amounts recommended for good health was small to negligible. The findings suggest nutrition communications should promote portion guidance of all foods, including red meat, in line with Australian Dietary Guidelines along with meal planning guidance to reduce household food waste.
Publications:
Ridoutt B, Baird D, Hendrie G. Diets within planetary boundaries: What is the potential of dietary change alone? Sustain Prod Consum. 2021 Oct; 28:802-810. Available from https://doi.org/10.1016/j.spc.2021.07.009