Abstract
Background: Food systems account for 18-20% of UK annual greenhouse gas emissions (GHGEs). Recommendations for improving food choices to reduce GHGEs must be balanced against dietary requirements for health.
Objective: We assessed whether a reduction in GHGEs can be achieved while meeting dietary requirements for health.
Design: A database was created that linked nutrient composition and GHGE data for 82 food groups. Linear programming was used iteratively to produce a diet that met the dietary requirements of an adult woman (19-50 y old) while minimizing GHGEs. Acceptability constraints were added to the model to include foods commonly consumed in the United Kingdom in sensible quantities. A sample menu was created to ensure that the quantities and types of food generated from the model could be combined into a realistic 7-d diet. Reductions in GHGEs of the diets were set against 1990 emission values.
Results: The first model, without any acceptability constraints, produced a 90% reduction in GHGEs but included only 7 food items, all in unrealistic quantities. The addition of acceptability constraints gave a more realistic diet with 52 foods but reduced GHGEs by a lesser amount of 36%. This diet included meat products but in smaller amounts than in the current diet. The retail cost of the diet was comparable to the average UK expenditure on food.
Conclusion: A sustainable diet that meets dietary requirements for health with lower GHGEs can be achieved without eliminating meat or dairy products or increasing the cost to the consumer. Am J Clin Nutr 2012;96:632-9.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 632-639 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition |
Volume | 96 |
Issue number | 3 |
Early online date | 1 Aug 2012 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Sept 2012 |
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Making the link: environmental sustainability and dietary guidelines
Jennie Macdiarmid (Coordinator), Heine Richard De Ruiter (Participant) & Pete Smith (Participant)
Impact: Policy