MODELLING OF HEALTHY AND SUSTAINABLE SEAFOOD CHOICES

Seafood is one of our most global food commodities, representing a diverse range of production systems for thousands of fished or farmed species. It plays an integral role in our overall food system, being an important dietary source of protein, omega-3 fatty acids, vitamins and micronutrients. UK seafood intake is currently based on the consumption of the 'big five' which are cod, haddock, tuna, salmon and prawns. However, across age groups, only around half of adults consume the recommended one portion of oily fish per week. Furthermore, there are concerns about potential trade-offs between positive health effects and environmental impacts such as ecosystem impacts of fisheries or aquaculture, and links between sustainability and fish consumption are not always well defined.

This interdisciplinary PhD project will integrate nutritional assets and life cycle assessment (LCA) of seafood into one functional unit to allow the identification of fish species that provide the greatest nutritional value at the lowest climate costs, against those from terrestrial protein sources. For this, nutrient density scores for commercially relevant fish species in the UK will be combined with its environmental impact data. In addition, a Food Swap tool that can model healthier, 'greener' and affordable 'swaps' to promote the purchase of seafood to replalinked ce other animal-derived protein sources will be developed based on known drivers and barriers affecting seafood consumption like price, ecolabels and health messages. Food swaps will be calculated using an in-house (Rowett) nutrient, greenhouse gas emission (GHGE) and price database of 6000 foods, and a linear programming tool to optimise existing NDNS food intake data against UK dietary targets. Simulated batch model runs of calculated food swaps will provide insights into the most important healthier, greener and affordable seafood swaps which could be applied for the development of health messages and for the seafood industries to market their produce. A beta-version of the Food Swap tool will be designed with end-users, including consumers and on-line food retailers. Such decision support tools have been found to be effective in driving behaviour change as they allow scientific knowledge to be reported in a format which is accessible to non-experts.

This PhD project offers a unique opportunity to work with key experts in the fields of nutrition, fisheries & aquaculture, modelling of healthy and sustainable diets and tool development. The project will provide extensive training in the interpretation of data and results from large dietary surveys such as the NDNS, performing advanced statistical analysis, such as linear mixed modelling approaches, in statistical package R and working with large datasets (supported by BioSS).