Supporting Sustainable Development Goals Through Sustainable Diets

An essential strategy to realize the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is supporting sustainable diets or healthy diets from sustainable food systems that promote the human condition and conserve ecological resources in socially acceptable ways. Despite evidence-based recommendations published in dietary guidelines across the globe, diet-related diseases continue to rise, and food consumption patterns threaten sustainable development (Herforth et al. 2017a; Fisher and Garnett 2016; Hacck and Byker 2014). There is an urgent need for policy to support health-promoting diets; malnutrition, which includes undernutrition and micronutrient deficiencies and overweight, obesity, and diet-related noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), afflicts every nation (Global Panel 2017). Strong evidence links diets to chronic disease and health conditions including cardiovascular disease, hypertension, cancer, type 2 diabetes, and obesity (Wang and Beydoun 2007; Miech et al. 2009; Ong et al. 2012). At the same time, food production places greater stress on ecosystems compared to all other human activities (West et al. 2014; Foley et al. 2011), while being critically dependent on multiple ecosystem services including water, soil fertility, pollination, and climate regulation (IPCC 2013, 2014). Despite vast resources dedicated to food production and consumption, a notable proportion of what is cultivated is wasted, including food lost, thrown away, or over consumed across the food system (Alexandar and Moran 2017). Food waste poses enormous externalities for ecological, economic, and public health systems (Fox and Fimeche 2013).

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