Takacs Berill, Kalea Anastasia Z, Borrion Aiduan
UCL Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, UK.
Centre for Urban Sustainability and Resilience, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, UK.
Nutrients. 2025 May 2;17(9):1569. doi: 10.3390/nu17091569.
: Adopting sustainable dietary patterns is essential for addressing environmental sustainability and improving public health outcomes. However, food service providers and consumers often face challenges in making informed choices due to a lack of information on the environmental, nutritional, and cost implications of different meal options. The aim of this paper was to provide an integrated assessment of the nutritional quality, environmental impact and cost of vegan, vegetarian, and meat-based versions of four popular meals (lasagne, chilli, teriyaki, and curry) offered in the lunch service of a university food service establishment in London, UK. : In this study, real recipes from the food service provider were analysed. The nutritional quality of meals was evaluated using the Nutrient Rich Food Index (NRF 9.3 and 17.3), the environmental impact was assessed using life cycle assessment (LCA), and the cost was calculated using recipe costing. Results were normalised using the min-max method, and recipes were ranked relative to each other based on their final nutritional quality, environmental impact and cost scores using a normalised integrated scoring method to identify which recipe version of meals was the most optimal when considering environmental sustainability, nutrition, and cost simultaneously. : The integrated assessment revealed that vegan recipe versions of meals made with whole foods consistently outperformed their meat-based counterparts across all three criteria-environmental impact, nutritional quality, and cost-ranking highest in environmental sustainability and nutrition while also being more cost-effective, regardless of cuisine or dish type. : These findings suggest that shifting towards plant-based recipes made with whole-foods (e.g., vegetables, legumes, etc.) can improve micronutrient intake, reduce environmental impact, and lower costs, thus supporting sustainable dietary transitions and public health.
采用可持续的饮食模式对于实现环境可持续性和改善公众健康状况至关重要。然而，由于缺乏不同膳食选择对环境、营养和成本影响的信息，食品服务提供商和消费者在做出明智选择时往往面临挑战。本文旨在对英国伦敦一家大学食品服务机构午餐供应的四种常见餐食（意大利千层面、辣味炖菜、照烧料理和咖喱）的纯素、素食和肉类版本的营养质量、环境影响和成本进行综合评估。
在本研究中，对食品服务提供商的实际食谱进行了分析。使用营养丰富食物指数（NRF 9.3和17.3）评估餐食的营养质量，使用生命周期评估（LCA）评估环境影响，并使用食谱成本计算法计算成本。结果采用最小-最大法进行归一化处理，并使用归一化综合评分法根据最终营养质量、环境影响和成本得分对食谱进行相互排名，以确定在同时考虑环境可持续性、营养和成本时哪种餐食食谱版本最为理想。
综合评估表明，用全食物制作的纯素餐食食谱在环境影响、营养质量和成本这三个标准方面始终优于肉类餐食食谱，在环境可持续性和营养方面排名最高，同时成本效益更高，无论菜肴类型或烹饪方式如何。
这些研究结果表明，转向以全食物（如蔬菜、豆类等）制作的植物性食谱可以提高微量营养素摄入量、减少环境影响并降低成本，从而支持可持续的饮食转变和公众健康。
