Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition, School of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences, Deakin University, Geelong, VIC, Australia.
Nutr J. 2024 Nov 30;23(1):150. doi: 10.1186/s12937-024-01049-6.
A healthy and sustainable diet is a prerequisite for population and planetary health. The evidence of associations between dietary patterns and health outcomes has now been synthesised to inform more than 100 national dietary guidelines. Yet, people select foods, not whole dietary patterns, even in the context of following specific diets such as a Mediterranean diet, presenting challenges to researchers, policymakers and practitioners wanting to translate dietary guideline recommendations into food-level selection guidance for citizens. Understanding the fundamentals that underpin healthy and sustainable diets provides a scientific basis for helping navigate these challenges. This paper's aim is to describe the fundamentals of a healthy and sustainable diet.
The scientific rationale underpinning what is a healthy and sustainable diet is universal. Everyone shares a physiological need for energy and adequate amounts, types and combinations of nutrients. People source their energy and nutrient needs from foods that are themselves sourced from food systems. The physiological need and food systems' sustainability have been shaped through evolutionary and ecological processes, respectively. This physiological need can be met, and food systems' sustainability protected, by following three interlinked dietary principles: (i) Variety - to help achieve a nutritionally adequate diet and help protect the biodiversity of food systems. (ii) Balance - to help reduce risk of diet-related non-communicable diseases and excessive use of finite environmental resources and production of greenhouse gas emissions. (iii) Moderation - to help achieve a healthy body weight and avoid wasting finite environmental resources used in providing food surplus to nutritional requirements.
The fundamentals of a healthy and sustainable diet are grounded in evolutionary and ecological processes. They are represented by the dietary principles of variety, balance and moderation and can be applied to inform food-level selection guidance for citizens.
健康和可持续的饮食是人口和地球健康的前提。饮食模式与健康结果之间的关联证据已经被综合起来，为 100 多个国家的饮食指南提供了信息。然而，人们选择的是食物，而不是整个饮食模式，即使在遵循特定饮食（如地中海饮食）的情况下也是如此，这给希望将饮食指南建议转化为公民食物选择指导的研究人员、政策制定者和从业者带来了挑战。了解健康和可持续饮食的基础为应对这些挑战提供了科学依据。本文旨在描述健康和可持续饮食的基础。
健康和可持续饮食的科学依据是普遍适用的。每个人都有生理上的能量需求和足够的、各种类型和组合的营养素。人们从食物中获取能量和营养需求，而食物本身则来自食物系统。生理需求和食物系统的可持续性分别是通过进化和生态过程形成的。通过遵循三个相互关联的饮食原则，可以满足生理需求并保护食物系统的可持续性：（i）多样性——以帮助实现营养充足的饮食，并帮助保护食物系统的生物多样性。（ii）平衡性——以帮助降低与饮食相关的非传染性疾病风险，以及过度使用有限的环境资源和产生温室气体排放。（iii）适度性——以帮助达到健康的体重，并避免浪费用于提供超过营养需求的食物的有限环境资源。
健康和可持续饮食的基础根植于进化和生态过程。它们由多样性、平衡性和适度性的饮食原则来体现，可以应用于为公民提供食物选择指导。
