Sustainable diets are context specific but are they realistic?

Sustainable diets have long been proposed as a means to improve public health and food security, and to reduce the impact of the food system on the environment.1 Various sustainable diets have been suggested, which generally encourage reduced consumption of animal-source foods and replacement with foods from plant-based sources.2 But it is not so simple. A diet might be sustainable, healthy, economically fair, and culturally acceptable in one region and not in another.3 For example, although reducing consumption of animal-source foods in high-income countries might bring sustainability benefits, this might not be an equitable or ethical approach in low-income country settings where undernutrition remains prevalent.