Dietary Guidelines: Encouraging Healthy Eating, and Perhaps Environmental Sustainability
Today the Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the Food Climate Research Network (FCRN) released a joint report which examines government-issued dietary guidelines around the world and how they incorporate environmental sustainability.
Through interviews and a web-based review, researchers found that only four countries (Brazil, Germany, Qatar, and Sweden) have included sustainability in their food-based dietary guidelines (FBDGs). Only 83 out of a possible 215 countries have government-issued FBDGs.
Last year, the United States attempted to include aspects of sustainability in its guidelines, but industry groups representing mainly meat producers argued that sustainability should be kept outside the purview of dietary guidelines. Subsequently, the Secretary of Agriculture ruled that sustainability should not appear in the 2015 FBDGs. Another four years remain until the United States Department of Agriculture and Health and Human Services will issue an updated version of the dietary guidelines.
The guidelines of Brazil, Germany, Qatar, and Sweden all promote a plant-based diet and reduced consumption of red meat for both health and environmental reasons. Interestingly, the FBDGs of all four countries support daily dairy consumption. Brazil has perhaps the most holistic take on what dietary guidelines may include: it cautions against the dangers of advertising and emphasizes enjoying meals and supporting local economies. Sweden’s guidelines are unique in their nuanced understanding of dietary choices. For example, though Sweden supports eating more vegetables in general, its guidelines encourage choosing fiber-rich vegetables over greens because of their lower environmental impact. While the Swedish guidelines encourage higher seafood consumption, they acknowledge the threat of unsustainable fish harvests and the problems associated with aquaculture.
The authors suggest some areas for further research, including sustainable fish production and sustainable plant sources of omega-3 fatty acids. They also argue that attention be focused on the environmental and health impacts of dairy products, and the environmental impact of energy-dense, highly processed foods. Finally, the authors state that further research should be directed toward developing countries and the “social and economic dimensions of sustainable diets.”
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