Does the environmental gain of switching to the healthy New Nordic Diet outweigh the increased consumer cost?

TY - JOUR

T1 - Does the environmental gain of switching to the healthy New Nordic Diet outweigh the increased consumer cost?

AU - Saxe, Henrik

AU - Jensen, Jørgen Dejgård

PY - 2014/12

Y1 - 2014/12

N2 - The new Nordic diet (NND) was designed by gastronomic, nutritional and environmental specialists to be a palatable, healthy and sustainable diet containing 30%-40% less meat than the average Danish diet (ADD), ≥ 75% organics, and more locally grown wholegrain products, nuts, fruit and vegetables. In this study, the NND was based on economic modelling to represent a“realistic NND bought by Danish consumers”. The objective was to investigate whether the ADD-to-NND diet-shift has environmental consequences that outweigh the increased consumer cost of the diet-shift. The diet-shift reduced the three most important environmental impacts by 16%-22%, mainly caused by reduced meat content. The surcharge to consumers of the ADD-to-NND diet-shift was €216/capita/year. In monetary terms, the savings related to the environmental impact of the diet-shift were €151/capita/year. 70% of the increased consumer cost of the ADD-to-NND diet-shift was countered by the reduced socioeconomic advantage associated with the reduced environmental impact of the NND.

AB - The new Nordic diet (NND) was designed by gastronomic, nutritional and environmental specialists to be a palatable, healthy and sustainable diet containing 30%-40% less meat than the average Danish diet (ADD), ≥ 75% organics, and more locally grown wholegrain products, nuts, fruit and vegetables. In this study, the NND was based on economic modelling to represent a“realistic NND bought by Danish consumers”. The objective was to investigate whether the ADD-to-NND diet-shift has environmental consequences that outweigh the increased consumer cost of the diet-shift. The diet-shift reduced the three most important environmental impacts by 16%-22%, mainly caused by reduced meat content. The surcharge to consumers of the ADD-to-NND diet-shift was €216/capita/year. In monetary terms, the savings related to the environmental impact of the diet-shift were €151/capita/year. 70% of the increased consumer cost of the ADD-to-NND diet-shift was countered by the reduced socioeconomic advantage associated with the reduced environmental impact of the NND.

KW - Faculty of Science

KW - environmental impact

KW - health

KW - life cycle assessment

KW - meat

KW - new Nordic diet

KW - OPUS

KW - organics

KW - socioeconomic cost

U2 - 10.17265/2159-5828/2014.06.004

DO - 10.17265/2159-5828/2014.06.004

M3 - Journal article

SN - 2159-5828

VL - 4

SP - 291

EP - 300

JO - Journal of Food Science and Engineering

JF - Journal of Food Science and Engineering

IS - 6

ER -