Sigal Tepper1, Diklah Geva2, Danit R Shahar3, Alon Shepon4,5, Opher Mendelsohn6, Moria Golan7, Dorit Adler8, Rachel Golan3. 1. Department of Nutritional Sciences, Tel-Hai College, Upper Galilee, 1220800, Tel Hai, Israel. sigalt@bgu.ac.il. 2. IntegriStat, Studio for Biostatistics, Tel Aviv, Israel. 3. Department of Public Health, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel. 4. Department of Environmental Studies, The Porter School of the Environment and Earth Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel. 5. The Steinhardt Museum of Natural History, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel. 6. Faculty of life sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel. 7. Department of Nutritional Sciences, Tel-Hai College, Upper Galilee, 1220800, Tel Hai, Israel. 8. The Israeli Forum for Sustainable Nutrition, Hailanot 1, Bitan Aharon, Israel.
Abstract
PURPOSE: Promoting sustainable diets through sustainable food choices is essential for achieving the sustainable development goals set by the United Nations. Establishing a practical tool that can measure and score sustainable and healthy eating is highly important. METHODS: We established a 30-item questionnaire to evaluate sustainable-dietary consumption. Based on the literature and a multidisciplinary advisory panel, the questionnaire was computed by principal component analysis, yielding the Sustainable-HEalthy-Diet (SHED) Index. A rigorous multi-stage process included validation in training-verification sets, across recycling efforts, as an indicator of environmental commitment; and validation across the proportion of animal-protein consumption, as an indicator of adherence to a sustainable and healthy dietary-pattern. The EAT-Lancet reference-diet and the Mediterranean-Diet-score were used to investigate the construct validity of the SHED Index score. Reliability was assessed with a test-retest sample. RESULTS: Three-hundred-forty-eight men and women, aged 20-45 years, completed both the SHED Index questionnaire and a validated Food-Frequency-Questionnaire. Increased dietary animal-protein intake was associated with a lower SHED Index total score (p < 0.001). Higher recycling efforts were associated with a higher total SHED Index score (p < 0.001). A linear correlation was found between the SHED Index score and food-groups of the Eat-Lancet-reference diet. A significant correlation was found between the Mediterranean-Diet-score and the SHED Index score (r = 0.575, p < 0.001). The SHED Index score revealed high reliability in test-retest, high validity in training and verification sets, and internal consistency. CONCLUSION: We developed the SHED Index score, a simple, practical tool, for measuring healthy and sustainable individual-diets. The score reflects the nutritional, environmental and sociocultural aspects of sustainable diets; and provides a tangible tool to be used in intervention studies and in daily practice.
PURPOSE: Promoting sustainable diets through sustainable food choices is essential for achieving the sustainable development goals set by the United Nations. Establishing a practical tool that can measure and score sustainable and healthy eating is highly important. METHODS: We established a 30-item questionnaire to evaluate sustainable-dietary consumption. Based on the literature and a multidisciplinary advisory panel, the questionnaire was computed by principal component analysis, yielding the Sustainable-HEalthy-Diet (SHED) Index. A rigorous multi-stage process included validation in training-verification sets, across recycling efforts, as an indicator of environmental commitment; and validation across the proportion of animal-protein consumption, as an indicator of adherence to a sustainable and healthy dietary-pattern. The EAT-Lancet reference-diet and the Mediterranean-Diet-score were used to investigate the construct validity of the SHED Index score. Reliability was assessed with a test-retest sample. RESULTS: Three-hundred-forty-eight men and women, aged 20-45 years, completed both the SHED Index questionnaire and a validated Food-Frequency-Questionnaire. Increased dietary animal-protein intake was associated with a lower SHED Index total score (p < 0.001). Higher recycling efforts were associated with a higher total SHED Index score (p < 0.001). A linear correlation was found between the SHED Index score and food-groups of the Eat-Lancet-reference diet. A significant correlation was found between the Mediterranean-Diet-score and the SHED Index score (r = 0.575, p < 0.001). The SHED Index score revealed high reliability in test-retest, high validity in training and verification sets, and internal consistency. CONCLUSION: We developed the SHED Index score, a simple, practical tool, for measuring healthy and sustainable individual-diets. The score reflects the nutritional, environmental and sociocultural aspects of sustainable diets; and provides a tangible tool to be used in intervention studies and in daily practice.
Authors: S Dernini; E M Berry; L Serra-Majem; C La Vecchia; R Capone; F X Medina; J Aranceta-Bartrina; R Belahsen; B Burlingame; G Calabrese; D Corella; L M Donini; D Lairon; A Meybeck; A G Pekcan; S Piscopo; A Yngve; A Trichopoulou Journal: Public Health Nutr Date: 2016-12-22 Impact factor: 4.022