Sustainable diets across the globe
Increasing numbers of people are eating too little, too much or the wrong type of food. Poor diets are the major cause of malnutrition in all its forms and diet-related non-communicable diseases worldwide. For more than 3 billion people, healthy diets are unaffordable. Food systems that deliver these diets are also passing planetary boundaries and deny access to food to many.
Food system transformations are needed to deliver healthy diets in a sustainable and inclusive way. We aim to formulate diets that are not only environmentally sustainable, affordable and healthy, but that also fit national food cultures. We also seek for innovations that contribute to transforming food systems towards more healthy, sustainable, and equitable outcomes. We do so in The Netherlands, Europe, and low- and middle-income countries in Africa and Asia.
Our research focuses on the assessment of diet quality in different contexts, development of indicators of sustainable, safe and affordable diets, and effect of diverse dietary patterns on environmental sustainability in diverse contexts. We analyse food systems with special emphasis on drivers of food choice related to the external and personal food environment. We build evidence of innovations in the food system that can lead to healthier diets and study the synergies and trade-offs with food system outcomes related to sustainability, safety, and inclusiveness.
