Development of Sustainable Healthy Diets in China

Abstract

Diets significantly affect the nutrition and health of people as well as the resources and environment. Promoting a sustainable healthy diets among the Chinese population is crucial for implementing the Healthy China initiative, fostering sustainable development, and ensuring national food security in China. This study reviews the forming process of the sustainable healthy diets concept, presents several representative sustainable dietary patterns, and clarifies the international consensus on sustainable healthy diets from the perspectives of nutrition and health, resource and environment, and socio-economics. Moreover, it analyzes the current dietary patterns of Chinese residents and focuses on associated nutrition and health issues and resource and environmental challenges caused by changes in dietary patterns. Furthermore, we recommend that China should propose targeted plans to guide and optimize residents’ dietary patterns, implement multiple measures to foster a healthy and sustainable food consumption habit among residents, and establish a sustainable and healthy dietary supply system. This can help cope with the double challenges of increasing nutritional imbalance and environmental degradation and improve the formulation of national food policies.

Keywords

• diet
• nutrition and health
• sustainability
• agri-food system