MSI PI Jason Hill (associate professor, Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering) and colleagues have published a paper that discusses several different foods and their impact both on human health and on the environment. The research examines the impact of one additional serving a day of these foods on five different health conditions and five types of environmental harm. In general, the study found that healthy foods also tend to be less detrimental to the environment. The paper was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America: Multiple Health and Environmental Impacts of Foods.
Articles about this research appeared on National Public Radio: Is a Diet That’s Healthy for Us Also, Better for the Planet? Most of the Time, Yes and on the website MinnPost: Healthy Foods Are Also Healthy for the Environment, U of M Study Reports. It also appears as a Research Brief on the UMN News site: Research Brief: Nutritious Foods Have a Lower Environmental Impact Than Unhealthy Foods.
Professor Hill uses MSI for computer modeling of the impacts of air pollution.