Gesundheit, Essen und Nachhaltigkeit: Anforderungen an die Ernährungsaufklärung

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    Abstract

    Against the backdrop of a worldwide food crisis and climate change scares, the highly complex topic of food and nutrition has become even more intricate. The past decade has provided ever more scientific evidence of the direct and indirect relations between nutrition, and public health, energy and climate change, as well as water and soil quality. And more than ever, policy is on the search for systemic solutions for a "sustainable nutrition and food policy". According to the European Parliament, diets with a "health value" have a high nutritional value, natural food properties ('aesthetic/gustatory' and 'digestive' qualities), show the ecological nature of food production (sustainable agriculture), and adhere to health and toxicological criteria (food safety). Following both, political interest and societal challenges, also the research in the field of "public health, food and sustainability" increasingly looks into the interrelations in this field. Consequently, the aims and goals of nutritional advice and information is expanding in scope and scale, extending classical concepts of nutritional consumer advice. Against this backcloth, the present paper looks into three questions: How is a "healthy and sustainable diet" defined and how does this impact nutrition advice? How do consumers empirically respond to this kind of advice as regards knowledge, attitude and behavior? Which policy implications as regards content and instruments can be drawn from these insights to draft a relevant, effective, and efficient nutrition advice? These questions are discussed against the backdrop of research in behavioural economics and information psychology. The author concludes that an effective policy for sustainable nutrition can only be realized if it is based on empirical evidence and regularly assessed and optimized. Much of current consumer information does either not reach the consumers at all or is not understood. Hence, solutions of "smart choice architecture" that nudge consumers into more sustainable food choices are suggested as a useful complement to support sustainable nutrition and life styles
    Original languageGerman
    JournalAktuelle Ernaehrungsmedizin
    Volume37
    Issue number6
    Pages (from-to)343-348
    ISSN0341-0501
    Publication statusPublished - 2012

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