Healthy Diets from Sustainable Food Systems

Dear Colleagues,

Sustainable healthy diets have been defined as “dietary patterns that promote all dimensions of individuals’ health and wellbeing; have low environmental pressure and impact; are accessible, affordable, safe and equitable; and are culturally acceptable” (FAO and WHO 2019). Given the detrimental impact of humans’ food consumption behaviors on the environment and natural resources, and the growing concerns as to whether our current food systems are sustainable, there is an urgent need to promote healthy and sustainable diets. In 2019, the Eat Lancet Commission proposed the global planetary health diet, which aims to promote a healthy diet for humans while ensuring that we are producing food within our planetary boundaries. The report proposed a plant-based diet consisting largely of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, nuts, and unsaturated oils, with low to moderate amounts of seafood and poultry. In addition, the Eat Lancet Commission proposed that such a diet would have a low environmental footprint by limiting the quantity of animal-based foods, including red and processed meat, as well as refined grains and added sugars. However, with the COVID-19 pandemic, the fragility of our global and local food systems was further exposed, and the pandemic-related physical and economic disruptions exacerbated existing food crises, disproportionately affecting the most vulnerable in low- to middle-income countries, particularly those in fragile and conflict-affected settings. In 2021, the UN World Food Systems Summit marks a ‎milestone to promote actions that aim at delivering healthier, more ‎sustainable, and inclusive food systems and to deliver progress across all the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). A food system transformation is called for to: 1) ‏to end hunger, 2) achieve healthy diets for all, 3) promote ‏biodiversity and the sustainable use of natural resources, and 4) eliminate poverty while increasing wealth and incomes.

This Special Issue is on the broad topic of “Sustainable Diets from Sustainable Food Systems” and calls for papers that aim at addressing the different economic, social, environmental, and health aspects of a sustainable diet. The Special Issue welcomes research papers that address how food systems can be transformed to achieve food and nutrition security for all while ensuring that we protect our environment, natural resources, and limit the adverse effects of climate change on our planet’s future biodiversity and survival. Papers that address how the Eat Lancet diet, sustainable healthy diets, and other sustainable consumption patterns that are being promoted can be socially and culturally acceptable while also being economically accessible, especially in LMICs, are also highly welcomed. We also look forward to research that addresses how our food systems can promote equitable livelihoods while building resilience to vulnerabilities, shocks, and stress (ensuring the continued functionality of healthy and sustainable food systems).

Prof. Dr. Rami Zurayk
Dr. Lamis Jomaa
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 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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. Sustainability 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 2400 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.

• healthy diets
• sustainable diets
• plant-based diets
• food systems
• food environment
• food access
• affordability
• behavior change
• environmental sustainability
• planetary boundaries
• resilience
• low- to middle-income countries
• conflict-affected settings