Environmental nutrition and LCA

Life cycle thinking in general and life cycle assessment in particular provide a useful, structured basis for investigating relationships between nutrition, human health, environmental quality, and sustainability impacts. In recent years, on-going methodological development has improved the basis for such analyses. In particular, this includes: careful definition of the functional unit of LCA studies focused on nutritionally relevant parameters; improved understanding of appropriate system boundaries-in particular, the inclusion of flows relevant to human health outcomes; evolving life cycle impact assessment methods for quantifying human health impacts; and the use of disability adjusted life years as a common basis for comparing human health, resource, and environmental outcomes. However, there remain several distinct challenges, such as questionable allocation strategies employed in the construction of life cycle inventory models; limited availability of high quality life cycle inventory data for agri-food system activities, along with common protocols for data quality and data uncertainty management; and insufficient resolution regarding fate pathways for agri-chemicals along with causal mechanisms linking inventory flows to human health outcomes at spatially and temporally resolved scales. As methods and approaches continue to evolve, the efficacy of life cycle assessment in decision support contexts related to managing agri-food system activities, food policy, and public health will continue to improve.