PhD defence by Matilda Nordman 11-06

• Senior Researcher Ellen Trolle

Co-supervisors

• Senior Researcher Anne Dahl Lassen
• Associate Professor Anders Stockmarr

Examiners

• Senior Researcher Lea Sletting Jakobsen, DTU Food
• Professor Jennie Macdiarmid, Interdisciplinary Director at Centre for Health, Wellbeing & Nutrition, University of AberdeenDocent
• Nutritionist and Risk-benefit Assessor, Emma Patterson, Department of Global Public Health, Karolinska Institutet and Swedish Food Agency

Chairperson at defence

• Senior Researcher Tue Christensen

Resume

Our current food consumption is unsustainable from both a human health and an environmental point of view. While global food systems contribute substantially to greenhouse gas emissions (GHGE) and other environmental impacts, unhealthy dietary intake is also among the main contributors to disease burden worldwide. There is therefore an urgent need for a shift towards sustainable and healthy diets. The overall aim of this thesis was to contribute to the methodology and evidence base for composing and evaluating healthy and sustainable diets for individuals and in public food service in Denmark. The objectives include developing methods for modeling dietary patterns that integrate health, environmental sustainability, and acceptability aspects in the general and sub-population groups in Denmark and evaluating the carbon footprint and nutritional quality changes in public food service in Copenhagen following the implementation of a climatefriendly food strategy.

The first part of the thesis presents two optimization studies applying quadratic programming to integrate health, environmental sustainability, and acceptability into dietary models for the Danish population. These studies are the first applications of quadratic optimization in Denmark incorporating environmental outcomes.

The second part of the thesis also evaluated the changes in carbon footprint and nutritional quality in food procurement in childcare centers in the municipality of Copenhagen, following implementation of the municipality’s new climate-friendly food strategy. The analysis found a 15% reduction in carbon footprint in the childcare centers’ food procurement from 2018 to 2022, putting the childcare centers towards a trajectory to meet the municipality’s 25% GHGE reduction goal by 2025.

This research contributes insights into the possibilities of transitioning towards sustainable and healthy diets through the application of mathematical optimization to create diet models and by highlighting the potential of public food service as a leverage point in food system transformation.