Societal Challenges are the big aspects associated with food systems. In SUSFANS 4 such challenges are defined, on which the food systems are measured. To address these societal challenges, policy makers define policy visions to agree upon a general direction for progress concerning each challenge.
For SUSFANS challenge areas, it would be ensuring balanced and sufficient food for EU citizens; reducing environmental impacts of the food system; improving the competitiveness EU agri-food businesses; and promoting a more equitable distribution of costs and benefits emerging from food system. A policy vision is often accompanied by a policy goal, i.e. a certain target that needs to be reached.
To assess the status of the food system in respect to a certain policy goal, SUSFANS has come up with indicators that aim to measure the status of this policy goal. This is done by building up performance metrics; the four components that make up this policy goal.
The following section describes the policy goal balanced and sufficient food that was embedded in Deliverable 6.3.
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People: Balanced and sufficient diets for EU citizens
Food and nutrition security exists when “all people at all times have physical, social and economic access to food, which is safe and consumed in sufficient quantity and quality to meet their dietary needs and food preferences, and is supported by an environment of adequate sanitation, health services and care, allowing for a healthy and active life.” (CFS 2012). At the EU-level, this definition is taken to include the simultaneous challenges of under-nutrition and over-consumption – the “double burden of malnutrition” – as well as the heterogeneity across socioeconomic and demographic strata and regions, in terms of food utilization and food access. Balanced and sufficient diets are assessed in terms of their contribution towards daily supply to meet bodily needs of energy, macronutrients and micronutrients. Balanced and sufficient diets address not only the quantity of food, but also its quality. Diets should provide foods and nutrients to prevent deficiencies, and reduce the risk on chronic diseases. At the same time they should address the increasing burden of overweight and obesity. Performance metric of balanced and sufficient diets should therefore include metrics to assess – the energy balance (quantity), nutrient adequacy (quality), and, composition of diets in terms of foods group recommendations and guidelines.
In SUSFANS, we use a two-part approach to assess the nutritional adequacy of the diets. First, we use food-based dietary guidelines to address inadequacies in diets. Food-based dietary guidelines provide a basic framework on the average amount of foods that individuals within a population should be eating in terms of foods instead of nutrients, while still aiming at supporting desirable food and nutrient intakes to promote overall health and prevent chronic diseases. Second, a selection, of nutrients (e.g., calcium, iron, zinc, vitamins) that are of concern in specific subpopulation and regions of the EU, and of nutrients with adverse effects on health (e.g., saturated fats, salt, added sugar) is added. The dietary assessment data used in SUSFANS are well suited for an EU-wide assessment of nutritional quality of the EU diets. This individual level of food consumption data will allow us to assess the intake of foods and food groups and simultaneously assess the intake of nutrients. These analyses will be further stratified to account for educational level (related to social economic status), sex, and age categories when appropriate. We define three performance metrics (PM) for balanced and sufficient diets: a metric based on (1) food-based dietary guidelines, a metric based on (2) nutrient recommendations, and a metric based on (3) energy balance. A fourth component which is not included here due to lack of model capacity, but is as important and needs to be given a place in this discourse is the disease burden of diets as influenced by the food systems. Urbanization, economic development and globalization has brought a big change in diets and lifestyles and ensuing effect of non-communicable diseases including – obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, stroke and some forms of cancer (WHO and FAO, 2003). Most of these diseases can be controlled through a better diet that is more balanced and nutritious.