11.A. Workshop: Risk-benefit Assessment of Foods and Diets for a Sustainable Future
Authors:   Organised by: Risk-benefit Research Group, Technical University of Denmark (Denmark),   Chair persons: Sara Pires (Denmark), Sofie Theresa Thomsen (Denmark)
Published: October 2023

Dietary risk factors are the most important contributors to burden of disease globally, including in European countries. Concurrently, the pressure that food systems have on the environment has amplified over time, largely driven by the increased demand for food, increased consumption of animal-based foods, and the intensification of agriculture and production systems. Shifts towards healthier and sustainable diets are needed to protect the health of populations and the environment. To define and implement public health policies that motivate these shifts, decision-makers need evidence on the overall impacts of such changes on the health of citizens, and on all aspects of sustainability: environment, socioeconomics, and culture of populations. Recent years have seen an increase in research and data to assess those impacts. Risk-Benefit Assessment (RBA) has emerged as a decision-support tool that considers both negative and positive health impacts of food consumption scenarios in a common health metric, considering both nutritional risks and benefits, and microbiological and toxicological risks. Multi-national European Projects, as well as research efforts by academic and public health authorities in different countries have contributed to important methodological developments, implementation of case studies, and raising awareness of the utility of risk-benefit outputs to inform public health policy. However, transforming food systems for combined health and sustainability benefits requires an assessment of integrated impacts that also takes a more holistic food-systems approach. Such an assessment needs to be able to integrate the impacts of diets and dietary shifts on health and the environment, while also considering social, culture and economic implications of dietary changes. Furthermore, the communication of findings from such assessments to policymakers and the public needs careful consideration. Thus, an extended interdisciplinary approach is warranted. This workshop consists of four presentations. In the first, we present an overview of RBA methodologies, case studies, and ongoing research efforts. Next, we present an example of development of methods to measure the integrated impacts of food systems and dietary shifts in terms of health and sustainability indicators, and of the steps that can be taken to increase the uptake of such methods for policymaking. The third presentation discusses the challenges and opportunities in communicating results from RBAs to different stakeholders, including policymakers and citizens. Lastly, we present current interests and call for actions on RBAs to provide evidence for policy through the lens of the World Health Organization. The workshop will end with ample time for discussions on current approaches and opportunities for methodological developments, challenges, possible solutions and potential for collaborations to increase implementation and utility of RBA of foods and diets globally.

Key messages

• Risk-benefit assessments of foods and diets offer an approach to assess the impacts of current and future dietary patterns on the health of populations and the planet.

• Research, stakeholder involvement and international collaboration are key to promote knowledge translation and support international activities within risk-benefit assessment.