Dish swap across a weekly menu can deliver health and sustainability gains
A weekly canteen menu comprising 15 dishes (3 dishes × 5 days) has 1.4 million unique configurations. Here food choice was monitored over four weeks ( ~ 5,000 meals) in a UK university residence. Without students noticing, mathematically optimized menus achieved 30.7% and 6.3% reductions in carbon footprint and saturated fatty acid intake, respectively. This demonstrates the potential of strategic menu manipulation to benefit health and the environment, without the need for recipe changes.
Authors
- Jeffrey M. Brunstrom (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4657-7799)
- Taro Takahashi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3492-7299)
- Annika N. Flynn (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8032-4448)
- Alex Sim
Institutions
- At Bristol (GB)
- National Institute for Health and Care Research (GB)
- University of Bristol (GB)
- Agri Food and Biosciences Institute (GB)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature Food
- Published
- 2025-08-11
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-025-01218-8
- Citations
- 5
- Primary Topic
- Agriculture Sustainability and Environmental Impact
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 8.58
Funders
- UK Research and Innovation
- National Institute for Health and Care Research
- University of Bristol