Healthy and sustainable diets in the context of the food system in the 21st century

Abstract

The objective of this essay was to carry out a reflective analysis on the theme of sustainable diets, emphasizing the need to debate what would be an adequate diet, given the environmental impact of the current food system. It starts with a digression on the construction of this theme to, next, draw parallels between healthy and sustainable diets. For this  purpose, databases and gray literature were used. The concept of sustainable diets has been built seeking to add nutritional, cultural and economic concerns to the environmental issues that surround the entire food system, thinking about the guarantee of Food and Nutrition Security in the present and future. However, pragmatically, research has shown the complexity in combining all these concerns in formulating an ideal diet. Overall, the study authors agree that a diet with
low environmental impact is generally consistent with good nutrition. But even within these food patterns, there will be some foods that will be more sustainable than others, based on supply chain factors, depending on how and where food was produced, manufactured, and transported. The scientific field of nutrition and food guidelines and policies should give due consideration to sustainability when setting goals for healthy nutrition.