SHEAF
SHEAF seeks to understand the cultural and personal drivers of accepting sustainable foods and the role of nutritional and sensory quality in such acceptance.
Dairy alternatives will be used as a case to provide concrete knowledge on the nutritional value and acceptance of such products and to serve as a model to elucidate drivers and barriers toward accepting more sustainable foods.
Additionally, SHEAF will investigate the role of plant-based alternatives to animal protein in the Great Food Transformation towards more sustainable diets, using dairy as a case study.
SHEAF will look into and cross-compare dietary patterns and consumer behaviour in Denmark, China and Brazil. The three countries have very different eating habits, including traditional and current use of dairy products.
- What are the nutritional impacts of substituting animal dairy for plant-based analogues? How do they fit into individuals’ global diets?
- Are plant-based dairy analogues sustainable? What is their role in the Great Food Transformation?
- What are consumers’ drivers and barriers to consuming more sustainable alternatives to dairy products? Are there cultural and social differences in attitudes towards these products?
The project is divided into four studies run in parallel.
SHEAF 1
Quality of current dietary patterns in Denmark, China and Brazil
In SHEAF 1, we establish a framework by analysing how healthy and sustainable current dietary patterns are in the countries part of the project against their national dietary guidelines and the Planetary Health Diet.
SHEAF 2
Nutritional and environmental impacts of dairy analogues
SHEAF 2 seeks clarification on the nutritional and environmental impacts of the substitution of animal milk and dairy products for plant-based alternatives in the context of current diets. Moreover, it should consider different types of production (e.g., organic vs conventional), most commonly consumed products and current laws on the enrichment of vitamins and minerals that could improve the plant-based products' nutritional profile (when compared to dairy).
Specifically, current EU regulations do not allow the enrichment of organic products unless required by other legislation. Therefore, organic alternatives to dairy products might impose a higher risk of nutritional deficiencies if used to substitute their animal counterparts.
SHEAF 3
Social and personal drivers and barriers towards sustainable foods and dairy analogues explicitly
SHEAF 3 investigates how people’s social and cultural backgrounds influence their attitudes and perception towards sustainable foods and dairy analogues explicitly, in a cross-country comparison between regular and non-regular plant-based consumers in Copenhagen (DK), Beijing (CN) and Brasília (BR).
SHEAF 4
Pilot intervention study
SHEAF 4 proposes a dietary intervention with healthy Danish adults. The intervention consists of the participants substituting their habitual intake of milk, yoghurt and cheese for plant-based analogues for four weeks. The products are a mix of raw materials (oats, peas, soy and organic cashew nuts) and the alternatives to milk and yoghurt are enriched with micronutrients in amounts similar to dairy. Changes in diets and motivation to eat plant-based foods are investigated.
As part of SHEAF 3, a survey will be conducted in the capital regions of
- Denmark (Greater Copenhagen area)
- China (Greater Beijing area)
- Brazil (Greater Brasília/Federal District area).
The survey will investigate consumers’ attitudes towards and willingness to try plant-based dairy products. It will also explore consumers’ drivers and barriers for the consumption of these products as well as the pleasure related to consuming plant-based drinks.
Additionally, respondents are asked about their impressions on sustainable diets and the environmental impact of diets, as willingness to change their diet due to climate impact.
External partners
Raquel Braz Assunção Botelho – professor - Department of Nutrition – University of Brasília.
Renata Puppin Zandonadi – associate professor - Department of Nutrition – University of Brasília.
The purpose of the study is to investigate the role of milk and dairy on the Danish diet and the impacts that a simple substitution of these products by plant-based alternatives has on people’s diets.
This project is a collaboration between researchers from the Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports (NEXS), the Department of Nordic Studies and Linguistics (NorS) and Queen Mary’s Center.
Participants will be asked to substitute their habitual milk and dairy products for plant-based alternatives for four weeks. These products will be provided to the participants weekly. Part of the participants will go through a social activity that focuses on the role of dairy in their diets and a collective eating experience.
The pilot clinical study is sponsored by the University of Copenhagen Green Solutions Centre, Living Labs – Our plant-based future.
Collaborators
Internal partners
Sophie Wennerscheid, Associate Professor
Lise Tjørring, postdoc
External partners
Christian Christiansen, CEO; DRYK
Simon Francis, CEO; Casheury – Swedish Vegan Creamery
Pieter Kraak, head of sales Denmark, Norway, Iceland; Alpro/Danone
Involved in the project
Internal
Name | Title | Phone | |
---|---|---|---|
Philippi Rosane, Beatriz | PhD Fellow | +4535329842 | |
Bügel, Susanne Gjedsted | Professor, Head of Section | +4535332490 |
External
Name | Title | Institution |
---|---|---|
Derek V. Byrne | Professor | Department of Food Science Aarhus University |
Barbara Vad Andersen | Tenure Track Assistant Professor | Department of Food Science Aarhus University |
ZHAO Hong | Professor | School of Economics and Management, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS) |
Funded by
SDC – Sino-Danish Center for Education and Research
Project period: October 2022 - October 2025.
Contact
SHEAF, sheaf@nexs.ku.dk