Identification of sustainable dietary patterns by a multicriteria approach in the NutriNet-Sante cohort

In the context of the increasingly damaging impact of agro-food systems on human health and the environment, this study aimed to evaluate the sustainability of current dietary patterns using multi criteria analysis to characterize consumers with different dietary patterns. In a sample of 29,413 participants of the NutriNet-Sante Study, total and organic food intakes of 264 items gathered in 17 food groups were evaluated using a food frequency questionnaire. Eight sustainability indicators were assessed individually. To identify combinations of food groups explaining the maximum variation in the sustainability indicators, we applied reduced rank regression with food groups as predictors and sustainability indicators as response variables. Then, the first two RRR-derived factors were used to classify participants using an ascending hierarchical classification. Six clusters were identified, among then one cluster (N = 23.07%) presented a good compromise between all the sustainable dimensions. Indeed, their diets emitted on average 36% less greenhouses gas, included 30% more organic food and exhibited a close level of affordability compared to the average. The dietary composition in this group, were characterized by -58% of red meat, -37% of white meat, -25% of cheese but +15% of fruits, +15% of vegetable and a similar contribution of fish and starches, compared to the sample average. Finally, this study showed that in the current food system context, the observed diets rarely meet all sustainability criteria. Oppositions between healthy, eco-friendly and affordability often remain. However, we obServed some diets with high compatibility with all sustainable indicators selected for the study. Thus sustainable diets are emerging and should be promoted. However, it would be relevant to conduct additional research in other population to estimate acceptability.