ORCID

0009-0008-9635-2938

Date of Award

2025

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Food Systems

First Advisor

Meredith T. Niles

Abstract

Food systems are a vital component of planetary health, or the inextricably linked health of humans and the environment, with the capacity to both threaten and support all dimensions of sustainability. Sustainable diets are recognized as both a driver and outcome of a sustainable food system needed to support the well-being of people and the planet. Although attention to sustainable diets as both a lever for change and result of complex food system dynamics is growing both within academia and beyond, there have been limited efforts to comprehensively review and synthesize the evolution and current state of sustainable diets research. Similarly, few studies have systematically examined how and what kinds of sustainable diets research is created, reproduced, and recommended for future study and food systems change. This comprehensive understanding of sustainable diets knowledge is essential in determining whether and how this research acknowledges and accounts for the full suite of sustainability dimensions and broader food systems dynamics. It is critical in accurately and thoroughly assessing system trade-offs and designing just, effective strategies for a sustainable food system transformation. Without it, research and solutions run the risk of inhibiting and contradicting planetary health goals. This three article mixed methods dissertation aims to address these gaps in knowledge and analysis through a thematic scoping review, bibliometric and altmetric analysis, and content analysis.

Each chapter in this dissertation builds layers of detail and depth to our understanding of sustainable diets research and its implications for future study and food systems change. The first chapter presents a thematic scoping review of sustainable diets literature. This chapter uses topic modeling, a natural language processing method, to identify research gaps, trends, and themes over time and across disciplines, and examines how these themes align with components of sustainable diets described by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Chapter 2 studies how the literature considered in the thematic scoping review is created and reproduced. Drawing from the mutual aims of science of science and research impact evaluation, it examines the practice of science through a citation and altmetric analysis and evaluation of whether and how research characteristics and indicators of power are linked with impact metrics. Chapter 3 takes a closer look at the objectives and recommendations of the most highly cited sustainable diets literature through a content analysis. It also reviews how the literature aligns with upstream and downstream food system influences as described by the Food Systems Dashboard’s Food Systems Framework to identify strengths and gaps in the research. The dissertation concludes with a summary of the findings and a critique of the ability of sustainable diets research to adequately address systems trade-offs necessary to designing solutions for a sustainable food system.

Language

en

Number of Pages

237 p.

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