From health boundaries and global sustainability to the development of a healthy fermented beverage

Abstract

We present a theoretical health framework called Health Boundaries. Then we comment on health and sustainability using Brazilian data. Finally, we develop a healthy fermented beverage and test its consumer acceptance. Non-technical summary This work is organized in three chapters, each one ending with a scientific article. In the first one, we propose a framework called Health Boundaries. It comprises nine integrated processes that sustain health at the human body scale. We describe these processes and discuss this theoretical health model, emphasizing the importance of building resilience to persist healthy, recognizing that human health is dynamically influenced at different scales, and arguing that globally most of the presented processes are at a high-risk zone, where diseases are likely to develop. In the second chapter we use Brazilian data to comment on the health impacts of eliminating poverty, reducing inequalities, empowering women, and transforming the food and energy systems. Besides, we highlight that health is already recognized as part of the sustainability movement and that health might accelerate the societal changes needed for the well-being of all in the next decades. In the third chapter, we describe the development of a healthy beverage fermented by a group of selected microorganisms. Then we evaluate the consumers acceptance of this beverage and discuss its potential health benefits over the consumption of ultra-processed sugar-sweetened beverages. We end this work with some general considerations followed by an appendix relating extra scientific production, with a timeline and some attached documents and images.