Publications by authors named "Alessandra C Grasso"
Objective: To measure the effects of health-related food taxes on the environmental impact of consumer food purchases in a virtual supermarket.
Design: This is a secondary analysis of data from a randomised controlled trial in which participants were randomly assigned to a control condition with regular food prices ( 152), an experimental condition with a sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) tax ( 131) or an experimental condition with a nutrient profiling tax based on Nutri-Score ( 112). Participants were instructed to undertake their typical weekly grocery shopping for their households.
Policies encouraging shifts towards more plant-based diets can lead to shortfalls in micronutrients typically present in animal products (B-vitamins, vitamin D, calcium, iodine, iron, selenium, zinc, and long-chain omega-3 fatty acids). We modelled the effect of fortifying foods with these critical micronutrients, with the aim of achieving nutrition and sustainability goals, using food consumption data from Dutch adults (19-30 years). Three dietary scenarios were optimized for nutritional adequacy and 2030 greenhouse gas emissions (GHGE-2030) targets, respectively, with the fewest deviations from the baseline diet: (i) the current diet (mainly vitamin A- and D-fortified margarine, iodized bread, and some calcium- and vitamin D-fortified dairy alternatives and iron- and vitamin B12-fortified meat alternatives); (ii) all plant-based alternatives fortified with critical micronutrients; and (iii) fortified bread and oils.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: Diet modelling studies suggest that increasing protein intake with no consideration for sustainability results in a higher environmental impact on the diet. To better understand the impact in real life, the aim of this study was to assess the effect of dietary advice to increase protein intake on food consumption and the environmental impact of the diet in community-dwelling older adults.
Methods: Food consumption and environmental impact were analyzed among 124 Dutch older adults with lower habitual protein intake (< 1.
Background: Protein intake greater than the currently recommended amount is suggested to improve physical functioning and well-being in older adults, yet it is likely to increase diet-associated greenhouse gas emissions (GHGEs) if environmental sustainability is not considered.
Objectives: We aimed to identify dietary changes needed to increase protein intake while improving diet environmental sustainability in older adults.
Methods: Starting from the habitual diet of 1,354 Dutch older adults (aged 56-101 y) from the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam cohort, mathematical diet optimization was used to model high-protein diets with minimized departure from habitual intake in cumulative steps.
Purpose: Food-based dietary guidelines are proposed to not only improve diet quality, but to also reduce the environmental impact of diets. The aim of our study was to investigate whether food-related behavioral activation therapy (F-BA) applying Mediterranean-style dietary guidelines altered food intake and the environmental impact of the diet in overweight adults with subsyndromal symptoms of depression.
Methods: In total 744 adults who either received the F-BA intervention (F-BA group) or no intervention (control group) for 12 months were included in this analysis.
Article Synopsis
- Protein-energy malnutrition (PEM) is a serious issue for older people and can cause health problems, so finding better protein sources is important.
- This study looked at how open older adults in Europe are to trying new protein sources like plant-based proteins, insects, and lab-grown meat.
- Results showed that most people favored dairy and plant-based proteins, and that being open to green eating and having a good education helped in accepting these alternative proteins.