Abstract
Objective: The aim of this study is to define a healthy and sustainable diet model with low GHGE, fulfilling dietary requirements, and considering current Italian food consumption patterns.Design: A duly designed database was developed, linking food nutritional composition and GHGE based on 921 food items consumed in Italy according to the last national food consumption survey (INRAN-SCAI 2005–2006). Linear programming was used to develop new diet plans separately for males and females, aged 18–60 years (n = 2,098 subjects), in order to minimize GHGE. The program is based on dietary goals and acceptability constraints as well as on 13 nutrient requirement constraints aiming to reach a healthy and acceptable diet for the Italian population.Results: Diet optimization resulted in a nutritionally adequate pattern minimizing GHGE values (4.0 vs. 1.9 kg CO2e/day for males and 3.2 vs. 1.6 kg CO2e/day for females). In both sexes, the nutrient intake of the optimized diet was at the established lower bound for cholesterol and calcium and at the established upper bound for free sugar and fiber. In males, intake of zinc was at the established lower bound whereas iron was at the established upper bound. Consumption of red meat and fruit and vegetables was at the established lower and upper bound, respectively, in both males and females. Despite the decrease in meat consumption, especially red meat, in the optimized diet with respect to the observed diet, levels of iron intake in females increased by 10% (10.3 vs. 11.3 mg/day) but remained below the adequate intake established in Italian national DRIs.Conclusions: An attainable healthy dietary pattern was developed that would lead to the reduction of GHGE by 48% for males and by 50% for females with respect to current food consumption in the Italian adult population. Health-promoting dietary patterns can substantially contribute to achieve related Sustainable Development Goals.
Highlights
An adequate and balanced diet contributes to achieve a good state of health and to prevent chronic diseases [1, 2]
At the first stage of application, linear programming provided a solution for male but could not provide a solution for female population data
The comparison of the sets of constraints for male and female population suggests that infeasibility may depend on the much higher level of iron requested for females
Summary
An adequate and balanced diet contributes to achieve a good state of health and to prevent chronic diseases [1, 2]. Most high-income countries, Italy among them, develop their country-specific nutrient-based recommendations, referred to as Dietary Reference Intake (DRIs), for assessment and planning of adequate dietary intake [3,4,5]. Healthy food consumption patterns meeting these requirements can be promoted through the development of Food-based Dietary Guidelines, which help to maintain high consumption of local and culture-specific foods [6, 7]. Industrialized countries are facing a wide range of diet-related non-communicable diseases, obesity among population, and micronutrient deficiency. Due to unbalanced dietary profiles, the DRIs are far from being met for some key nutrients [8]. The observation of current food consumption patterns shows that a healthier diet could be obtained in the Italian population through an increase in consumption of vegetable source foods such pulses, fruits, and vegetables and a decrease of consumption of red and processed meat [9, 10]
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