Sustainable Nutrition

Planet Health Conformity Index (PHC): A new Approach to Navigate the Label Jungle - Bridging the Health and Environmental Quality of Food

The transition to a sustainable food system requires clear guidance and precise assessment approaches that combine health and environmental aspects.

For this reason, the Planet Health Conformity Index (PHC) was developed, which combines these aspects in a holistic metric. In contrast to mono-dimensional labels such as the Nutri-Score (focus: health) or the Eco-Score (focus: environment), the PHC takes both aspects into account – and checks them in the context of planetary boundaries (Planetary Health Diet).

A total of 125 foods were analysed, representing the average shopping basket in Germany. The results show that many products are often incorrectly categorised within the planetary boundaries when assessed solely in terms of mass or energy (per 100g or 100 kcal).

Including public health relevant nutrients, the analysis with the PHC often reveals significant overshooting of the corresponding boundaries: for CO2 emissions for 38 % of products, for land use (41 %), for water consumption (27 %), for mineral nitrogen fertilisers (34 %) and for mineral phosphorus fertilisers (71 %).

The PHC enables sophisticated product evaluation by transforming the Planetary Health Diet (PHD) to nutrient level, thus enabling a customisable and context-specific application. Depending on the target group (children/adolescents, seniors, etc.), the results can be individualised according to nutritional requirements. In its basic version, the new index analyses 18 macro- and micronutrients relevant to public health.

Why was the PHC developed?

  • To avoid conflicting goals in food communication by considering the health AND environmental effects of foods together, visualised in one label
  • To classify and standardise results in the context of planetary boundaries
  • To create a metric that can be universally applied to all foods, while still being adaptable to the nutritional needs of different target groups.
  • To establish a metric that can be applied not only at the level of individual foods, but also at the level of recipes, meals, menus and complete diets.

Further key facts from the study: Of the 125 foods analysed, nine were organic and the remaining 116 were conventionally produced.

Analysis by country of production/origin:
Germany: 25 domestically produced foods
France: 12
The Netherlands: 8
Spain: 6
Poland: 5
Italy: 3
USA: 3
India: 3
The remaining 60 foods were from further 21 countries of origin.

Analysis by product group:
Cereals: 22 products
Starch/sugars: 8
Oils/fats: 9
Vegetables: 19
Pulses: 7
Fruits: 16
Nuts/Seeds/Cocoa: 18
Animal products: 16
Beverages: 10

 

Explanation of the PHC using an example food: bananas from Ecuador

Figure 1: PHC single scores for CO2e emissions (GWP) per nutrient for bananas from Ecuador (conventional agriculture) as an example

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Dark green circle: Nutrients supplied by the food can be provided within half of the planetary boundary (A label = PHC < 0.5)

Light green circle: Nutrients supplied by the food can be provided within the planetary boundary (B label = PHC 0.5 – 1)

Yellow circle: Planetary boundary exceeded by 1 to 2 times (C label = PHC 1 – 2)

Orange circle: Planetary boundary exceeded by 2 to 4 times (D label = PHC 2 – 4)

Red circle: Planetary boundary exceeded by more than 4 times (E label = PHC >4)

 

Differences between foods (other examples: wheat, tomato and peach)

Figure 2: PHC single scores for selected plant-based foods for all macro- and micronutrients in terms of CO2e emissions, land use, blue water use, mineral nitrogen and phosphorus fertiliser application

Final PHC index for all analysed products and environmental impacts

Figure 3: Final PHC index for all foods analysed in terms of CO2e emissions, land use, blue water use, mineral nitrogen and phosphorus fertiliser application

Abbreviations

AR = Argentina
BR = Brazil
CA = Canada
CO2e = Emissions of CO2-equivalents
conv. = Conventional Production
CZ = Czech Republic
DE = Deutschland (Germany)
EC = Ecuador
ES = Espana (Spain)
FR = France
GLO = Global
GWP = Global Warming Potential
HGH = Heated Greenhouse
IT = Italy
L = Liter
MM = Market Mix
MPUFA = Mono- and poly-unsaturated Fatty Acids
nFU = Nutritional Functional Unit
NL = Netherlands
nLCA = Nutritional Life Cycle Assessment
N-min = Application of mineral nitrogen fertilizer
NuPlaBos = Nutrient related Planetary Boundaries
OF = Open Field
org. = Organic Production
PHC = Planet Health Conformity
PHC-L = Planet Health Conformity-Label
PL = Poland
P-min = Application of mineral phosphorous fertilizer
RoW = Rest of the World
SFA = Saturated Fatty Acids
UA = Ukraine
UGH = Unheated Greenhouse
US = United States
VN = Vietnam

Summary & Conclusions

The PHC represents a capstone in multi-nutritional life cycle assessments (mnLCA). With its two-factor design, the new index combines environmental and health effects and can be applied not only to individual foods, but also to recipes, menus, whole assortments and complete diets. This provides a reliable basis for foresighted and sustainable food labelling.

Future life cycle assessments of foods that aim to compare different foods should primarily use a Nutritional Functional Unit (nFU) as the basis for assessment, as nutrition is the main function of food. Conventional approaches that ignore nutritional quality can lead to biased comparisons. Previous research has shown that results based on nFUs can differ significantly from those based on mass- or energy-based functional units.

Multi-nutrient FUs provide a more comprehensive and sophisticated view of the environmental impact of food, covering both environmental and health dimensions. In order for nFUs to provide effective guidance to consumers and thus contribute to a more sustainable food system, they should be consistent with dietary recommendations and considered in the context of the nutritional needs and health status of the population/target group.

 

Publication

Meier T, Schade S, Forner F, Eberle U (2024). Bridging Nutritional and Environmental Sustainability within Planetary Boundaries in Food Life Cycle Assessments: SWOT review and development of the Planet Health Conformity Index. Sustainability (MDPI), 16(23), 10658. doi: 10.3390/su162310658 (Link to the Journal)

Funding

This research was funded by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection (BMUV) in the International Climate Initiative (IKI) within the project “Assessment and Communication of Climate Impacts of Food (CLIF)“.