Review of Diet Quality Indices that can be Applied to the Environmental Assessment of Foods and Diets

Abstract

Purpose of review: The aim was to identify indices of diet quality and health that could be applied to the environmental assessment of foods in order to provide metrics that collectively assess nutritional, health and environmental dimensions.

Recent findings: The review identified five major groups of indices: nutrient-food quantity-based; guideline-based; diversity-based; nutrient quality-based; health-based. Nutrient-food quantity-based and guideline type indices were the most frequently used to evaluate diet quality. Scaled assessment using a nutritional functional unit is the most common integration of diet quality with the environmental analysis of foods. There are fewer indices that measure the heath impacts of foods, but epidemiological dietary risk factors seem a promising approach to integrate diet and health impacts into the environmental assessment of foods. Five groups of nutritional and health indices were identified that can be applied when performing an environmental assessment of foods. This review proposes different methodological insights when doing such assessments to ensure transparency and comparability of the results.

Keywords: Diet quality; Dietary indices; Healthy diets; Life cycle assessment; Nutrient profile; Sustainability.