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Background Diets combining adequate nutritional quality and low climate impact are highly needed for human and planet health. Objectives We aimed to 1) evaluate nutrient density indexes’ ability to predict mortality, and 2) assess the effects of diets varying in nutrient density and climate impact on total mortality. Methods Dietary data from 49,124 women and 47,651 men aged 35–65 y in the population-based prospective study Västerbotten Intervention Programme (Sweden) were used. Greenhouse gas emissions (GHGEs) were estimated using data from life cycle assessments. Fifteen variants of nutrient density indexes were evaluated and the index that best predicted mortality was used to estimate participants’ nutrient density. GHGEs and nutrient density were adjusted for energy intakes. Total mortality risk was estimated by Cox proportional hazards models for 4 groups of women and men, respectively, i.e., higher nutrient density, lower climate impact (HNutr/LClim); higher nutrient density, higher climate impact (HNutr/HClim); lower nutrient density, lower climate impact (LNutr/LClim); and lower nutrient density, higher climate impact (LNutr/HClim—reference group). Results NRF11.3, a Sweden-adapted variant of the Nutrient Rich Foods index, was identified to have the best ability to predict mortality in the study population. Median follow-up times for women and men were 16.0 and 14.7 y, respectively. For women a significantly lower mortality risk was found for HNutr/LClim (HR: 0.87; 95% CI: 0.79, 0.96; P = 0.008) and HNutr/HClim (HR: 0.87; 95% CI: 0.78, 0.97; P = 0.011) than for LNutr/HClim. Among men LNutr/LClim had a significantly higher mortality risk (HR: 1.10; 95% CI: 1.01, 1.21; P = 0.033) than LNutr/HClim. Conclusions Diets beneficial for both health and climate are feasible and associated with lower mortality risk in women. Further studies are needed to understand how men may transition into diets that are more sustainable from a combined health and climate perspective.
Anna Strid; Ingegerd Johansson; Marta Bianchi; Ulf Sonesson; Elinor Hallström; Bernt Lindahl; Anna Winkvist. Diets benefiting health and climate relate to longevity in northern Sweden. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 2021, 114, 515 -529.
AMA StyleAnna Strid, Ingegerd Johansson, Marta Bianchi, Ulf Sonesson, Elinor Hallström, Bernt Lindahl, Anna Winkvist. Diets benefiting health and climate relate to longevity in northern Sweden. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2021; 114 (2):515-529.
Chicago/Turabian StyleAnna Strid; Ingegerd Johansson; Marta Bianchi; Ulf Sonesson; Elinor Hallström; Bernt Lindahl; Anna Winkvist. 2021. "Diets benefiting health and climate relate to longevity in northern Sweden." The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 114, no. 2: 515-529.
New methods for combined evaluation of nutritional and environmental aspects of food products are needed to enable a transformation of dietary guidelines integrating both health and environmental perspectives. We evaluated two sustainability aspects; nutrition and climate impact, of foods commonly consumed in Sweden and the implications of using parallel or integrated assessments of these two aspects, also discussing the usability and suitability of these food sustainability indicators in relation to Swedish dietary guidelines, industry food product development, and consumer communication. There were large differences in both nutrient density and climate impact among the different foods. The parallel assessment easily visualized synergies and trade-offs between these two sustainability aspects for the different foods. Coherence with dietary guidelines was good, and suitability and usability deemed satisfying. The integrated indicator showed better coherence with dietary guidelines than indicators based solely on nutrient density or climate impact; however, the difficulty to interpret the score limits its usability in product development and consumer communication. With both methods, advantageous as well as less advantageous plant-based and animal-based food alternatives were suggested. The two alternative methods evaluated could serve as useful tools to drive individual and societal development towards more sustainable food production and consumption.
Anna Strid; Elinor Hallström; Ulf Sonesson; Josefin Sjons; Anna Winkvist; Marta Bianchi. Sustainability Indicators for Foods Benefiting Climate and Health. Sustainability 2021, 13, 3621 .
AMA StyleAnna Strid, Elinor Hallström, Ulf Sonesson, Josefin Sjons, Anna Winkvist, Marta Bianchi. Sustainability Indicators for Foods Benefiting Climate and Health. Sustainability. 2021; 13 (7):3621.
Chicago/Turabian StyleAnna Strid; Elinor Hallström; Ulf Sonesson; Josefin Sjons; Anna Winkvist; Marta Bianchi. 2021. "Sustainability Indicators for Foods Benefiting Climate and Health." Sustainability 13, no. 7: 3621.
Expressing the environmental impact of foods in relation to the nutritional quality is a promising approach in the search for methods integrating interdisciplinary sustainability perspectives. However, the lack of standardized methods regarding how to include nutrient metrics can lead to unharmonized results difficult to interpret. We evaluated nutrient density indexes by systematically assessing the role of methodological variables with the purpose of identifying the index able to rank foods with the highest coherence with the Swedish dietary guidelines. Among 45 variants of the nutrient density index NRF (Nutrient Rich Food), a Sweden-tailored NRF11.3 index, including 11 desirable nutrients and 3 undesirable nutrients, calculated per portion size or 100 kcal with the application of weighting, ranked foods most coherently with the guidelines. This index is suggested to be suitable as complementary functional unit (FU) in comparative life cycle assessment (LCA) studies across food categories. The results clarify implications of methodological choices when calculating nutrient density of foods and offer guidance to LCA researchers on which nutrition metric to use when integrating nutritional aspects in food LCA.
Marta Bianchi; Anna Strid; Anna Winkvist; Anna-Karin Lindroos; Ulf Sonesson; Elinor Hallström. Systematic Evaluation of Nutrition Indicators for Use within Food LCA Studies. Sustainability 2020, 12, 8992 .
AMA StyleMarta Bianchi, Anna Strid, Anna Winkvist, Anna-Karin Lindroos, Ulf Sonesson, Elinor Hallström. Systematic Evaluation of Nutrition Indicators for Use within Food LCA Studies. Sustainability. 2020; 12 (21):8992.
Chicago/Turabian StyleMarta Bianchi; Anna Strid; Anna Winkvist; Anna-Karin Lindroos; Ulf Sonesson; Elinor Hallström. 2020. "Systematic Evaluation of Nutrition Indicators for Use within Food LCA Studies." Sustainability 12, no. 21: 8992.
Objective:The objective of this study was to examine climate impact from diet across background and sociodemographic characteristics in a population-based cohort in northern Sweden.Design:A cross-sectional study within the Västerbotten Intervention Programme. Dietary data from a 64-item food frequency questionnaire collected during 1996–2016 were used. Energy-adjusted greenhouse gas emissions (GHGE) for all participants, expressed as kg carbon dioxide equivalents/day and 4184 kJ (1000 kcal), were estimated using data from life cycle analyses. Differences in background and sociodemographic characteristics were examined between participants with low and high GHGE from diet, respectively. The variables evaluated were age, BMI, physical activity, marital status, level of education, smoking, and residence.Setting:Västerbotten county in northern Sweden.Participants:In total, 46 893 women and 45 766 men aged 29–65 years.Results:Differences in GHGE from diet were found across the majority of examined variables. The strongest associations were found between GHGE from diet and age, BMI, education, and residence (all P < 0·001), with the highest GHGE from diet found among women and men who were younger, had a higher BMI, higher educational level, and lived in urban areas.Conclusions:This study is one of the first to examine climate impact from diet across background and sociodemographic characteristics. The results show that climate impact from diet is associated with age, BMI, residence and educational level amongst men and women in Västerbotten, Sweden. These results define potential target populations where public health interventions addressing a move towards more climate-friendly food choices and reduced climate impact from diet could be most effective.
Anna Strid; Elinor Hallström; Therese Hjorth; Ingegerd Johansson; Bernt Lindahl; Ulf Sonesson; Anna Winkvist; Ena Huseinovic. Climate impact from diet in relation to background and sociodemographic characteristics in the Västerbotten Intervention Programme. Public Health Nutrition 2019, 22, 3288 -3297.
AMA StyleAnna Strid, Elinor Hallström, Therese Hjorth, Ingegerd Johansson, Bernt Lindahl, Ulf Sonesson, Anna Winkvist, Ena Huseinovic. Climate impact from diet in relation to background and sociodemographic characteristics in the Västerbotten Intervention Programme. Public Health Nutrition. 2019; 22 (17):3288-3297.
Chicago/Turabian StyleAnna Strid; Elinor Hallström; Therese Hjorth; Ingegerd Johansson; Bernt Lindahl; Ulf Sonesson; Anna Winkvist; Ena Huseinovic. 2019. "Climate impact from diet in relation to background and sociodemographic characteristics in the Västerbotten Intervention Programme." Public Health Nutrition 22, no. 17: 3288-3297.