The global food environment transition based on the socio-demographic index

Systems thinking for local food environments: a participatory approach identifying leverage points and actions for healthy and sustainable transformations

BACKGROUND

Current local food environments encourage poor diets, posing a significant threat to public and planetary health. Acknowledging and addressing its inherent complexity is vital to making meaningful improvements to the food environment. Using a participatory approach with local stakeholders, this study aims to gain insight into the factors and mechanisms underlying the local food environment and to identify leverage points and system-based actions to foster healthy and sustainable local food environments.

METHODS

A systems-thinking approach was used in a Dutch municipality in 2022. Two group model building (GMB) workshops were held with community stakeholders (e.g. local policymakers, retailers and residents). During the first workshop (June 2022), factors and mechanisms influencing the local food environment were identified and visualized through a causal loop diagram (CLD). During the second workshop, leverage points and system-based actions to improve food environments were identified by the stakeholders. Four months after (October 2022), an action-implementation meeting was organized to stimulate the implementation of selected actions. Progress was monitored through brief telephone interviews 6 and 12 months after the second workshop.

RESULTS

The CLD visualises the factors and mechanisms influencing the local food environment from the point of view of the community stakeholders. The CLD consists of 46 factors shaping the local food environment, which were categorized into four identified subsystems: societal factors, individual, socio-economic factors, commercial factors and political factors. Eight leverage points were identified within the CLD, for example, 'lobby from food industry', 'governmental food policies' and 'e-commerce and platform economy'. Stakeholders formulated 20 actions targeting the identified leverage points. During the action-implementation meeting, long-term plans were created for five actions. After 1 year, only one participant (policy advisory role) remained actively engaged in three of these actions.

CONCLUSIONS

This study yields insight into the numerous factors and mechanisms underlying the local food environment and identified system-based actions as perceived by local stakeholders to improve this food environment locally. The CLD offers stakeholders valuable insights on employing a systems approach when enhancing food environments. More research is necessary, especially into the long-term processes and effects of implementing system-oriented actions to improve local food environments.

Environmental Sustainability of Food Environments: Development and Application of a Framework in 4 cities in South Asia

Background

Food environments, where people directly engage with broader food systems, may be an important contributor to the environmental sustainability of food systems.

Objectives

The primary objectives of this study were to establish a new food environment framework that considers environmental indicators and to assess data availability and gaps using data previously collected as part of a food systems survey in 4 South Asian cities.

Methods

The framework was developed by conducting a structured literature review of previous food environment frameworks and in-depth interviews with content experts (n = 6). The framework and indicators were then mapped to data collected by consumer and vendor surveys using the Urban Food Systems Assessment Tool (UFSAT) in Ahmedabad (India), Pune (India), Kathmandu (Nepal), and Pokhara (Nepal).

Results

We have expanded the sustainability domain within food environments to include consumer travel to food vendors, the presence of food delivery services, policies related to sustainability, vendor food waste, vendor plastic use, vendor utility usage, vendor recycling and waste management practices, and food packaging. Mapping the framework to existing data from 4 cities in South Asia, we found variations in food environment sustainability indicators, particularly regarding consumer transportation to food vendors, the presence of delivery services, and food waste.

Conclusions

Although the majority of food environment research focuses on the availability and affordability of healthy foods, there is an urgent need to understand better how aspects of food environments contribute to environmental goals. When mapping the framework to existing food systems data, we found gaps in data on environmental sustainability in food environments and variation in indicators across settings.

Convenience as a dimension of food environments: A systematic scoping review of its definition and measurement

Convenience is a major driver of food choice throughout the world, yet it is often inconsistently conceptualised, defined and measured. This limits the scope for food systems policy and interventions to leverage convenience to improve diet and nutrition outcomes. We conducted a systematic literature review to determine how convenience is both defined and measured in food environment and nutrition research. Six databases were systematically searched and studies were screened by two independent reviewers based on pre-defined eligibility criteria, yielding 243 studies for inclusion in the final review. 77% of studies did not explicitly define convenience. Among those that did, the dimensions and components within definitions varied. 83% of studies used perceived measures of convenience rather than objective measures. Convenience was most commonly measured in high income countries (64%) and in relation to the home food environment (53%), followed by formal retail (40%). Very few studies measured convenience in relation to the informal retail or cultivated food environments, and no studies considered convenience in relation to wild food environments. The vast majority of studies did not consider the validity or reliability of the measures of convenience. Based on our findings we propose a definition of convenience as a characteristic that results in reduced requirement for resources including time, physical effort, mental effort and skills by the consumer in relation to the planning, acquisition, preparation, storage, transport, consumption or clean-up of food. This definition can be used to help guide the development of measurement tools that can be used to assess convenience across different dimensions and contexts in a more comprehensive way. We also propose a framework for considering convenience as an entry point in food systems to improve diets and nutrition outcomes.

Centering context when characterizing food environments: the potential of participatory mapping to inform food environment research

Food environments are a critical place within the food system to implement interventions aimed at enabling sustainable diets. In this perspective article, we argue for the need for food environment research to more comprehensively examine the different types of food environments that people access within their communities to ensure that interventions and programs are better aligned with people's lived experiences. We highlight the potential ways in which participatory mapping (PM) can be leveraged to better design food environment research by: (1) identifying the different food environment types that are accessed within a given community; (2) providing insight into the timing for data collection; (3) informing the prioritization of where to conduct food environment assessments; and (4) highlighting the dynamism of food environments over time (e.g., across a given day or across seasons). We provide a case study example of the application of PM and the lessons learned from it in Cambodia. By conceptualizing food environments in a more comprehensive way, from the perspective of the people living within a given community, we will be able to measure food environments in a way that more closely aligns with people's lived experiences.

Effects of Fructose and Palmitic Acid on Gene Expression in Drosophila melanogaster Larvae: Implications for Neurodegenerative Diseases

One of the largest health problems worldwide is the development of chronic noncommunicable diseases due to the consumption of hypercaloric diets. Among the most common alterations are cardiovascular diseases, and a high correlation between overnutrition and neurodegenerative diseases has also been found. The urgency in the study of specific damage to tissues such as the brain and intestine led us to use Drosophila melanogaster to study the metabolic effects caused by the consumption of fructose and palmitic acid in specific tissues. Thus, third instar larvae (96 ± 4 h) of the wild Canton-S strain of D. melanogaster were used to perform transcriptomic profiling in brain and midgut tissues to test for the potential metabolic effects of a diet supplemented with fructose and palmitic acid. Our data infer that this diet can alter the biosynthesis of proteins at the mRNA level that participate in the synthesis of amino acids, as well as fundamental enzymes for the dopaminergic and GABAergic systems in the midgut and brain. These also demonstrated alterations in the tissues of flies that may help explain the development of various reported human diseases associated with the consumption of fructose and palmitic acid in humans. These studies will not only help to better understand the mechanisms by which the consumption of these alimentary products is related to the development of neuronal diseases but may also contribute to the prevention of these conditions.

Harnessing the connectivity of climate change, food systems and diets: Taking action to improve human and planetary health☆

With climate change, the COVID-19 pandemic, and ongoing conflicts, food systems and the diets they produce are facing increasing fragility. In a turbulent, hot world, threatened resiliency and sustainability of food systems could make it all the more complicated to nourish a population of 9.7 billion by 2050. Climate change is having adverse impacts across food systems with more frequent and intense extreme events that will challenge food production, storage, and transport, potentially imperiling the global population’s ability to access and afford healthy diets. Inadequate diets will contribute further to detrimental human and planetary health impacts. At the same time, the way food is grown, processed, packaged, and transported is having adverse impacts on the environment and finite natural resources further accelerating climate change, tropical deforestation, and biodiversity loss. This state-of-the-science iterative review covers three areas. The paper's first section presents how climate change is connected to food systems and how dietary trends and foods consumed worldwide impact human health, climate change, and environmental degradation. The second area articulates how food systems affect global dietary trends and the macro forces shaping food systems and diets. The last section highlights how specific food policies and actions related to dietary transitions can contribute to climate adaptation and mitigation responses and, at the same time, improve human and planetary health. While there is significant urgency in acting, it is also critical to move beyond the political inertia and bridge the separatism of food systems and climate change agendas that currently exists among governments and private sector actors. The window is closing and closing fast.

Food Environments and Their Influence on Food Choices: A Case Study in Informal Settlements in Nairobi, Kenya

The food environments that people have access to shape their food choices. The purpose of this study was to use mixed methods to characterize the external food environment in informal settlements in Nairobi, Kenya and to examine the individual factors that influence the way in which women interact with those environments to make food choices. We used a combination of food environment assessments (vendor mapping, collection of food prices, food quality assessments) and five focus group discussions with women (n = 26) in four villages within two informal settlements in Nairobi (Mukuru and Kibera) to better understand the drivers of food choice. We found a large number (n = 1163) of vendors selling a variety of food within the settlements. The highest number of vendors were selling fruits and/or vegetables; however, there was limited diversity of fruits available. Animal-source foods were considered relatively expensive as compared to plant-based foods, including prepared fried snacks. We found that the way women interacted with their food environments was influenced by individual factors such as income, time, convenience, and preferences. Our findings suggest that interventions targeting both the external food environment as well as individual factors such as income will be necessary to support healthy diets among low-income populations living in informal settlements in Kenya.