Sustainable diet

Sustainable diets are "dietary patterns that promote all dimensions of individuals’ health and wellbeing; have low environmental pressure and impact; are accessible, affordable, safe and equitable; and are culturally acceptable". These diets are nutritious, eco-friendly, economically sustainable, and accessible to people of various socioeconomic backgrounds. Sustainable diets attempt to address nutrient deficiencies (e.g., undernourishment) and excesses (e.g., obesity), while accounting for ecological phenomena such as climate change, loss of biodiversity and land degradation. These diets are comparable to the climatarian diet, with the added domains of economic sustainability and accessiblity. In order to create a sustainable diet, emphasis is placed on reducing the environmental cost incurred by food systems, including everything from production practices and distribution to the mitigation of food waste. At an individual level, most sustainable diets promote reduced consumption of meat and dairy products due to the particularly adverse environmental impact of these industries. Data on the intersection between food and sustainability has been prioritized by a variety of international bodies such as the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO). Sustainable diets were developed to address the dual issues of malnutrition and degradation of environmental resources. The term "sustainable diet" was first coined in the 1986 Dietary Guidelines for Sustainability article by Gussow and Clancy. They describe sustainable diets as "food choices that support life and health within natural system limits into the foreseeable future." The term and its usage was further refined in 2010 by FAO and Bioversity International. The FAO further delineated the constructs of practicing a sustainable diet to be the achievement of optimal growth and development, support for physical, mental, and functional wellbeing, prevention of malnutrition, and promotion of biodiversity and planetary health.