Developing and Promoting Sustainable Dietary Guidance

Recorded August 3, 2016.
Moderator: Justin Fast, SNEB Division of Sustainable Food Systems
Speakers: Hugh Joseph, PhD, Tufts University, Friedman School of Nutrition Science & Policy; Jennifer L. Wilkins, PhD, RD, David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics; Syracuse University
With SNEB now developing a position paper concerning sustainability, this is the perfect time to reflect on ‘sustainable diets’, a term introduced by Joan Gussow & Kate Clancy in ‘Dietary Guidelines for Sustainability’ (JNE, 1986). It took until 2015 before a serious effort was made (but ultimately rejected) to include sustainability in the 2016 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA).
Recent years have seen the emergence of several sustainable dietary guidelines, issued primarily by NGOs. However, many were based on limited evidence and omitted issues such as climate change, biodiversity and food security. Their development often reflected a lack of expertise relative to what goes into producing the DGA, resulting in weaker scientific standards of evidence. This suggests that intermediary roles for qualified professionals can be important to the guidance development process and to the integrity of guidelines. ‘Tufts Sustainable Diets Project’ (TSDP) is designing a framework to facilitate development of rigorously-designed sustainable dietary guidance that involves roles for professional intermediaries.
This workshop will address sustainable diets and associated guidelines development. We will initially explore key elements of sustainable diets and their connections to food systems. Participants will then be led through a decision-making exercise to navigate the links among global systems, food systems, and diets from sustainability approaches. Finally, we will address together the potential for Division of Sustainable Food Systems members to develop a set of sustainable dietary guidelines, in sync with the emerging TSDP Framework protocols. If supported, an initial one-year action plan will be a key outcome of this workshop.
Session sponsored by the Division of Sustainable Food Systems