Towards calorie-adequate diets to mitigate environmental impacts from food consumption in Asia

Climate change, damage to human health, ecosystem, and resource scarcity associated with food consumption were assessed in forty-four Asian countries from a cradle-to-gate perspective with life cycle assessment. To propose nutritionally and environmentally sustainable diets in Asian countries of varying economic status, five healthy diet scenarios were proposed considering calorific adequacy, environmental impacts, and income status, specifically for each country. Reducing the animal-sourced food calorie intake could decrease environmental impacts by 40‐63 % in high-income countries and 18‐39 % in low-income countries. However, for certain Asian countries with inadequate animal-sourced food calorie intake, a combined adjustment in animal-sourced food and cereal was recommended, as cereal is the most consumed food group in the Asian context. This could reduce the environmental impact by 21‐33 % in high-income countries and 16‐22 % in low-income countries. In North Korea, Timor-Leste, Afghanistan, Maldives, and Yemen which have insufficient calorie intake, increase in cereal intake was recommended as it is a staple food group. Although this would increase the environmental impact by around 5 %, it is still lower than the Asian average impact. This study emphasized the importance of considering not only environmental but also economic aspects when developing diets, as different combinations of these factors lead to unique food consumption patterns, resulting in different environmental profiles for food consumption in each country. The study developed alternative diets customized for each country, considering environmental impacts, calorific sufficiency, and income levels, to promote more environmentally sustainable food consumption in Asia.