Summary: oncern about the public health impacts of dietary habits in the UK have led to initiatives to
encourage healthier eating, notably in the dietary guidelines represented of the eatwell
plate (FSA, 2007) and the Eatwell Guide (NHS, 2016c). A change in UK dietary habits towards
healthier eating would result in changes in the type and quantities of food items in the
national diet, with implications for agricultural, food and allied industries. More specifically,
this could lead to changes in land use and farming practices, both for the UK and its trading
partners, with associated effects on greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental
impacts. In this context, and sponsored by Defra, this study set out using a series of
scenarios to assess the environmental impacts of changing dietary habits and specifically the
adoption of healthier eating in the UK, and in broad terms some of the likely social and
economic impacts on the agricultural and food sector, through a set of hypothetical
scenarios.
The main objectives were to:
i) determine the consumption of food under possible future food consumption
scenarios in the UK, including the eatwell plate;
ii) quantify the production of agricultural commodities needed to meet the food needs
of each scenario;
iii) quantify the environmental impacts of food commodity production and
consumption by scenarios, and
iv) identify, in broad terms, the possible economic and societal impacts of dietary
changes.
The authors thank Defra for funding and supporting the project and all
the stakeholders who participated in the project and helped greatly in
shaping and quantifying the dietary change scenarios. The authors also
thank others who contributed in other ways, e.g. nutritional advice from
Prof Joe Millward of Surrey University.