Multi-criteria Group Decision Making of Dietary Patterns Considering Health Promotion and Reducing Water Footprint

Population growth and population needs, including the need for food, necessitates the development and implementation of policy solutions based on reducing the pressure on water resources. Especially when the notion of food security and self-sufficiency policies for strategic commodities have been the focus of attention in higher policies of the country. One of the most effective solutions is to use a diet that has low water demand. On the other hand, considering some deficiencies in the current diet of the country; it is necessary to change it and design a healthy and sustainable diet that simultaneously promotes the health of the community and reduces its environmental effects (such as water footprint). In this study, the current dietary pattern and three alternative food baskets are evaluated by the multi-criteria group decision-making taking into account criteria including health (energy and protein intake from the diet), environment (water footprint), the economic cost of the diet, and social acceptance of the diet. Finally, the desired dietary pattern and its effects are introduced. Also, to analyze the uncertainty of some data, such as the price of products, and to create random numbers, tools such as Central Limit Theorem have been used. One of the most important outcomes of this study is the weakness of the current diet compared to other diets from environmental, health, and economic perspectives. The results also showed that designing diets, while improving health, can lead to an annual reduction in water consumption, which can lead to food security in the country.