Sustainable Nutrition - Combined health and environmental effects

The overarching goal within the field of sustainable nutrition is to guide the development of future food systems toward both lower environmental impact and improved performance in terms of nutritional quality and health benefits.

Nutrition Indicators for Combined Assessments

A central focus of our research is identifying and developing nutrition indicators that can be used alongside environmental assessments—such as through the methodology of Nutritional Life Cycle Assessment (nLCA). Nutritional LCA integrates nutritional quality into traditional life cycle assessments of food and can be applied to evaluate individual products, product portfolios, recipes/meals, and entire diets.

We have experience with a range of nutrition indicators, including nutrient density indices like the Nutrient Rich Food (NRF) score, and EU labeling systems such as the Keyhole label and Nutri-Score. We assess the applicability of different indicators based on product type and specific needs, with the possibility of developing customized solutions.

For environmental assessments, the RISE Climate Database for food is a key resource. In autumn 2023, RISE also launched a Biodiversity Database for food products.

Diet-Level Research

Another area of research in sustainable nutrition is the combined analysis of the health and environmental impacts of diets, based on data from epidemiological studies. By analyzing both health outcomes and environmental effects of various diets using dietary data from large population groups, we can better understand which food choices offer the greatest benefits for both human health and the planet. This type of research provides valuable insights into what sustainable eating habits can look like in practice—based on what people actually eat.