Top Things to Know: Innovation to Create a Healthy and Sustainable Food System
Published: April 29, 2019
- This science advisory summarizes the evidence on nutrition innovation and novel food systems approaches that have health impacts, clarifies the nutritional science that supports the development of innovative products and processes, and identifies promising strategies needed for health impact and for more diverse options for healthier choices throughout the food system.
- Developing a “sustainable” (one that meets current population needs without compromising the needs of future generations) and “healthy” (one that promotes and maintains nutrient-dense dietary patterns that optimize health individually and cross-culturally) food system requires a multi-level innovative approach including global, federal, state, and local policies, food industry, agricultural industry, public health and medicine, communities, worksites, and schools, and individuals and families, this is the basis of the advisory.
- There are significant gaps in the literature documenting the impacts of innovations in food systems on cardiovascular health factors such as dyslipidemia, excess body weight gain, high blood pressure and insulin resistance. The advisory identifies evidence that innovations favorably alter eating behaviors.
- Several innovative policy approaches at the global, state and local level that have documented evidence of favorable impact on health and dietary behavior are included such as banning trans fat in the food supply and taxing sugar-sweetened beverages, among others.
- Innovative strategies by the private sector, while voluntary, can favorably impact health behaviors and outcomes population-wide. Some examples include new product formulations by food producers, choice architecture or product placement by retailers, menu labeling by restaurants, and cafeteria programs and healthy worksite food procurement at worksites.
- Examples of innovative approaches by public health agencies include the National Salt Reduction Initiative, undertaken by a national coalition of city, state and local health departments and organizations resulting in modest progress for voluntary sodium reduction by food companies. Community campaigns on sugar-sweetened beverages have resulted in reduced purchase of these beverages.
- Medically tailored meals (such a low-sodium diet) and nutrition prescriptions have also been tied to small improvements in health outcomes.
- Innovative approaches such as chef-enhanced meals in school districts are tied to better health outcomes, while others such as product placements, traffic-light labeling and increasing water availability and convenience are tied to improved selection of healthier choices at the community level. Mobile health apps and gaming strategies are opportunities to impact behavioral changes at the family and individual level.
- A lack of evidence directly linking innovations to health outcomes presents opportunities for AHA to invest in partnerships that generate sponsored research in this area, partner with food and agricultural industry to promote transparency and availability of data regarding food products and consumption patterns, and partner with policy makers, private sector, and community public health agencies to facilitate the integration of strategies that affect marketing and product development
- Innovation throughout all levels of the food system is necessary to see improvements in the public’s health.
Citation
Anderson CAM, Thorndike AN, Lichtenstein AH, Van Horn L, Kris-Etherton PM, Foraker R, Spees C. Innovation to create a healthy and sustainable food system: a science advisory from the American Heart Association [published online ahead of print April 29, 2019]. Circulation. doi: 10.1161/CIR.0000000000000686.