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Nutrients
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Environmental Impacts on Human Nutrition and Health
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Environmental Impacts on Human Nutrition and Health

A special issue of Nutrients (ISSN 2072-6643). This special issue belongs to the section "Nutrition and Public Health".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 May 2026) | Viewed by 1378

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Cesar Reis

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
1. United States Department of Veterans Affairs, VA Loma Linda Healthcare System, Veterans Health Administration, Loma Linda, CA, USA
2. Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, School of Medicine, Loma Linda University, Loma Linda, CA 92354, USA
Interests: environmental determinants; sustainable diets; food quality; health-risk assessment; planetary health; nutritional epidemiology
Dr. Sabina Gandhi

E-Mail Website
Co-Guest Editor
Preventive Medicine Section, VA Loma Linda Healthcare System, Veterans Health Administration, Loma Linda, CA, USA
Interests: internal medicine; public health; health policy; preventive medicine; healthcare quality
Dr. Neal Malik

E-Mail Website
Co-Guest Editor
Department of Health Science and Human Ecology, California State University, San Bernardino, CA, USA
Interests: diet; appetitive hormones; type 2 diabetes; blood lipids; body weight

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Environmental changes—such as air and water pollution, soil degradation, and climate variability—are increasingly influencing global nutrition and health. These stressors alter food quality, nutrient bioavailability, and metabolic outcomes, posing new challenges for dietary adequacy and disease prevention. This Special Issue of Nutrients invites contributions that clarify how environmental exposures affect nutritional status across the lifespan, from prenatal development to aging populations. We particularly welcome studies addressing dietary pathways of pollutant exposure, nutrient–toxicant interactions, and the nutritional implications of occupational or climate-related stress. Papers combining environmental monitoring, nutritional assessment, and health risk modeling are encouraged, as are interventions and policy analyses promoting sustainable, health-supportive food systems. By integrating environmental and nutritional sciences, this Special Issue aims to provide evidence to guide both dietary recommendations and environmental health policy.

Dr. Cesar Reis
Guest Editor

Dr. Sabina Gandhi
Dr. Neal Malik
Co-Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Nutrients is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • environmental determinants
  • sustainable diets
  • food quality
  • soil nutrients
  • water contamination
  • air pollution
  • occupational exposure
  • toxic metals
  • endocrine disruptors
  • health-risk assessment
  • planetary health
  • nutritional epidemiology

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

16 pages, 272 KB  
Article
A Cross-Sectional Study of the Dietary Carbon Footprints of US Schoolchildren
by Andrea Barney, Donald Rose, Amelia Willits-Smith and Lori Andersen Spruance
Nutrients 2026, 18(10), 1529; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu18101529 - 12 May 2026
Viewed by 208
Abstract
Objectives: This study’s main objective was to examine the association between dietary greenhouse gas emissions (GHGEs) and diet quality among U.S. primary and secondary schoolchildren. Our secondary objectives were to identify demographic characteristics associated with higher-GHGE diets and to assess the relationship [...] Read more.
Objectives: This study’s main objective was to examine the association between dietary greenhouse gas emissions (GHGEs) and diet quality among U.S. primary and secondary schoolchildren. Our secondary objectives were to identify demographic characteristics associated with higher-GHGE diets and to assess the relationship between school meal consumption and dietary GHGE. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional secondary analysis of dietary intake data from 2165 primary and secondary students participating in the nationally representative 2014–2015 US School Nutrition and Meal Cost Study (SNMCS). Dietary GHGEs (kg CO2-equivalents per 1000 kcal) were estimated by linking reported foods to an environmental impact database. Diet quality was assessed using the Healthy Eating Index-2010 (HEI). Students were categorized into GHGE groups, and differences in total HEI and component scores were examined using appropriate statistical tests. Statistical significance was set at p < 0.05. Results: The average dietary GHGE of the sample was 3.64 kg CO2-equivalent per person per day. Overall, HEI scores did not differ between the GHGE groups (p = 0.22). However, compared to the high-GHGE group, the low-GHGE group scored significantly higher on some HEI-2010 components, such as fatty acid ratios (p < 0.0001) and sodium (p < 0.0001), and significantly lower on others, such as dairy (p < 0.0001), total protein foods (p < 0.0001), and refined grains (p < 0.0001). Male students and students who ate school meals on the day of recall had higher odds of being in the high-GHGE group compared with their respective reference groups. Conclusions: Lower dietary carbon footprints are achievable without sacrificing overall diet quality, but tradeoffs in specific dietary components indicate the need for additional research and care in recommending diet changes or setting school policies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental Impacts on Human Nutrition and Health)
19 pages, 1083 KB  
Article
Cluster-Based Evaluation of Dietary Guideline Adherence and Food Literacy Among Adolescents: Implications for Tailored Diets
by Jimin Lim and Jieun Oh
Nutrients 2026, 18(2), 241; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu18020241 - 12 Jan 2026
Viewed by 647
Abstract
Background: Adolescence is a formative period for lifelong dietary patterns, yet Korean adolescents show low fruit and vegetable intake, high sugar and sodium consumption, and rising obesity, highlighting the importance of multidimensional assessment that integrates behavioral, cultural, environmental, and competency-related factors. Methods: A [...] Read more.
Background: Adolescence is a formative period for lifelong dietary patterns, yet Korean adolescents show low fruit and vegetable intake, high sugar and sodium consumption, and rising obesity, highlighting the importance of multidimensional assessment that integrates behavioral, cultural, environmental, and competency-related factors. Methods: A total of 1010 adolescents aged 12–18 years completed an online cross-sectional survey assessing food intake, dietary and physical activity behaviors, dietary culture, and Food Literacy (FL) competencies. Standardized scores were used for hierarchical and K-means clustering to identify dietary practice patterns, and between-cluster differences were examined using ANOVA. Correlation and regression analyses were conducted to examine associations between Dietary Guideline Adherence (DGA) and FL. Results: Four clusters were identified—selective intake–low support (20.4%), regular habits–unbalanced intake (33.3%), high adherence (23.2%), and low adherence (23.1%)—with significant differences in DGA total and domain scores (p < 0.001). The high-adherence cluster showed balanced intake, regular routines, and strong household support, whereas the low-adherence cluster showed poor diet quality, irregular behaviors, and lower socioeconomic status. FL differed across clusters (p < 0.001) and correlated with DGA (r = 0.496, p < 0.01). Total FL predicted DGA (β = 0.496, p < 0.001), explaining 25% of its variance (R2 = 0.246). Conclusions: Adolescent diet quality appears to be associated with behavioral, cultural, and competency-related factors. These findings suggest that cluster-specific strategies—such as fat–sugar–sodium reduction, promotion of low-sodium and diverse diets, and maintenance of balanced-dietary patterns—may support tailored school- and community-based nutrition programs and inform further longitudinal and intervention research. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental Impacts on Human Nutrition and Health)
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