The trajectory and influencing factors of health-promoting behavior in patients after aortic dissection surgery: a longitudinal study.

Food loss and waste (FLW) accounts for spillage or leakage of food across the entire food supply chain (FSC). When addressing the FLW problem, it is imperative to address conceptualization and dimension issues. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) (), the boundary between food loss (FL) and food waste (FW) is conceptually placed at specific stages of the FSC where they occur. FL takes place from primary production to processing, and FW at retail and consumer stages. Though such distinction may sound straightforward, there are still some gaps in the international legislation regarding standardized definitions and quantification approaches. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development of the United Nations (UN) and the Farm to Fork Strategy (F2F) of the European Commission (EC) put the focus on the imperative need of reducing FLW, however they do not get to the heart of the problem conceptualization. Regarding the FLW dimension, global estimates published by the FAO () and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) () suggest that 14% of global food production is lost between harvest and retail. A further 17% is wasted at retail, food service, and household levels. More recent data from the European Union (EU) confirm this trend. According to Eurostat (), a total of approximately 58 million tons of food were wasted in the EU in 2023, equaling 130 kg per capita per year, with primary production and manufacturing accounting for 28% (36 kg per capita). Country-level data reveal a fourfold variation, ranging from 65 kg per capita in Spain to 286 kg in Cyprus, with the primary production ranging from 9% in Portugal to 55% in Denmark of total food waste, underscoring the need for country-specific implementation frameworks. The economic value of this waste is estimated at 132 billion euros (). This represents a daunting scenario, especially when considering that approximately 30% of the global population suffers from moderate to severe food insecurity (). Beyond its environmental and economic implications, FLW also represents a significant challenge for human nutrition, as large amounts of edible and nutrient-rich foods are removed from the FSC. The nutritional consequences of F&V loss are not uniformly distributed across regions or population groups. In high-income countries, farm-level F&V losses represent primarily a missed economic and environmental opportunity; however, in regions with persistent food insecurity, including Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Central America, the loss of edible F&Vs at primary production level may reduce the micronutrient availability. Globally, an estimated one in two preschool-aged children and two in three women of reproductive age suffer from micronutrient deficiencies, predominantly in low- and middle-income countries ().