Sustainable dietary patterns and their associated quantitative health impacts: a scoping review
Abstract Background Comparing the health impacts of sustainable dietary patterns is challenging due to varying definitions and assessment methods across studies. We aimed to identify, summarise, and discuss these definitions and identify their associated quantitative health impacts. Methods The search was conducted in PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus on November 24th, 2023. Papers published since 1986, that focused on general human populations, defined sustainable dietary patterns, and quantified associated health impacts were included. Results We identified 10,051 unique studies of which 97 were included. Most studies were conducted only in high-income countries (80%) and nearly 80% were published after 2019. About half of the included studies used predictive modelling to estimate health impacts (44%) and among these, most risk-outcome data came from Global Burden of Disease studies (44%). The EAT-Lancet planetary health diet emerged as the most common dietary pattern definition (29%). Conclusions Our review highlights a lack of consistency in sustainable dietary pattern definitions and a stark geographical disparity in investigations connecting sustainable eating to health outcomes. Along with the lack of standard epidemiological data sources for predictive health impact modelling, these findings complicate cross-study comparisons and underscore the need for harmonised definitions and standard data sources to better understand the implications of sustainable diets globally. Trial registration Open Science Framework— https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/AJN3Y
Authors
- Erika Országh (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8576-6520)
- Morten Poulsen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0442-6944)
- Androniki Naska (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1610-1813)
- Lea Sletting Jakobsen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9666-348X)
- Sofie Theresa Thomsen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1885-5598)
- Marianne Uhre Jakobsen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6518-4136)
- Juliana Martins Ruzante (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2309-4447)
- Andrea Zentai (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0001-6298-1807)
- Aleksandra Davydova (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2300-0017)
- Hanna Eneroth (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7349-6615)
- Géraldine Boué (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3716-8352)
- Hans Verhagen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7952-3530)
- Michiel De Bauw (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0746-1339)
- Stefanie Vandevijvere (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3225-7524)
- Claire Dénos (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0001-9779-5668)
- Carla Martins
- Sara M. Pires
- Yibaina Wang
- Hernan Gomez Redondo
- Anna E. Jacob
- Constanza De Matteu
- Catarina Carvalho
- Kyriaki Apergi
Institutions
- Université Libre de Bruxelles (BE)
- RTI International (US)
- Universidade do Porto (PT)
- National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (GR)
- Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SE)
- Ghent University (BE)
- Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'Environnement (FR)
- China National Center for Food Safety Risk Assessment (CN)
- Sciensano (Belgium) (BE)
- Oniris (FR)
- Syreon Research Institute (Hungary) (HU)
- Comprehensive Health Research Centre (PT)
- Universidade Nova de Lisboa (PT)
- Technical University of Denmark (DK)
- KU Leuven (BE)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nutrition Journal
- Published
- 2026-10-15
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1186/s12937-026-01334-6
- Primary Topic
- Agriculture Sustainability and Environmental Impact
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00