Food and Sustainability: Is It a Matter of Choice?

Abstract

Health and sustainability problems have become a central theme in dialogue in both the scientific community and the public. Our individual choices have a profound, advantageous or disadvantageous impact on our health; the same can be said about our environmental footprint. In this area, we can also make decisions that affect the physical environment positively or negatively. Our narrative review aims to demonstrate that healthy plant-based choices in our diet are linked to choices beneficial for our environment and that these two seemingly distant aspects converge in the context of plant-based diets. We have collected, compared and discussed the results of life cycle analysis (LCA) articles on the current state of the effect of food choice on our environment. Furthermore, we would like to show the opportunities and constraints of implementing plant-based diets.