Developing a sustainable dietary pattern for Korean adults using quadratic programming.

BACKGROUND/

OBJECTIVES

Dietary patterns play a critical role in mitigating environmental impacts while ensuring nutritional adequacy. Although several global models of sustainable diets have been proposed, evidence-based research reflecting Korea's unique dietary culture remains limited. This study aimed to develop a sustainable dietary pattern for Korean adults that balances cultural acceptability, nutritional adequacy, and environmental sustainability.

SUBJECTS/

METHODS

Quadratic programming was applied to derive an optimized dietary pattern minimizing the deviations from the observed dietary intakes while satisfying cultural acceptability, nutritional adequacy, and environmental sustainability constraints. The model parameters were derived from nationally representative 24-h dietary recall data from 3,983 Korean adults aged 19-64 yrs in the 2023 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. The cultural acceptability constraints were defined within the intake-distribution bounds at the food group and food subgroup levels. The nutritional adequacy constraints were based on the 2025 Korean Dietary Reference Intakes. The environmental sustainability constraints were implemented by progressively tightening the allowable level of diet-related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Elasticity analysis identified the final optimized pattern, hereafter termed the sustainable dietary pattern.

RESULTS

A sustainable dietary pattern was identified at a diet-related GHG emissions level of 2.19 kg CO2eq/day, representing a 49% reduction from the current level (4.29 kg CO2eq/day). Plant-based foods accounted for 68.5% of total intake by weight, animal-based foods for 18.3%, and sugars, seasonings, and fats for 13.2%. Vegetables (26.9%) and grains (23.5%) together comprised approximately half of the total food intake by weight, followed by fruits (12.9%) and animal-based protein foods (12.0%). Red meat intake decreased from 81.1 to 49.1 g/day, whereas combined fruit and vegetable intake increased from 395.9 to 500.0 g/day.

CONCLUSION

A sustainable dietary pattern satisfying the cultural acceptability, nutritional adequacy, and environmental sustainability constraints was identified. This pattern provides a scientific basis for developing Korean-style sustainable dietary guidelines and may inform future nutrition policies and food service practices.