Background Organic food consumption has steadily increased over the past decade in westernized countries. Objective The aim of this study, based on observational data, was to compare some sustainability features of diets from consumers with varying levels of organic food. Methods The diet sustainability among 29,210 participants of the NutriNet-Santé study was estimated using databases developed within the BioNutriNet project. Four dimensions (nutrition, environment, economy, and toxicology) of diet sustainability were assessed using: 1) nutritional indicators through dietary intakes and dietary scores, and BMI; 2) environmental indicators (greenhouse gas emissions, cumulative energy demand, and land occupation); 3) economic indicators via diet monetary costs; and 4) estimated daily food exposures to 15 pesticides. Adjusted means (95% CI) across weighted quintiles of organic food consumption in the diet were estimated via ANCOVA. Breakdown methods were used to disentangle the contribution of the production system (organic compared with conventional) from the dietary pattern in the variation of diet-related environmental impacts, monetary costs, and pesticide exposure, between the 2 extreme quintiles. Results Higher organic food consumption was associated with higher plant-food and lower animal-food consumption, overall nutritional quality (higher dietary scores), and lower BMI. Diet-related greenhouse-gas emissions, cumulative energy demand, and land occupation gradually decreased with increasing organic food consumption, whereas total diet monetary cost increased. Diet exposure to most pesticides decreased across quintiles. Conclusions Diets of high organic food consumers were generally characterized by strong nutritional and environmental benefits. The latter were mostly driven by the low consumption of animal-based foods, whereas the production system was responsible for the higher diet monetary costs, and the overall reduced dietary pesticide exposure.
Sustainability is now accounted in some Food-Based Dietary Guidelines (FBDG). In 2017, the French FBDG were updated and incorporated environmental preservation. We conduct a multi-indicator evaluation of the 2001 and 2017 FBDG, based on data from 28,240 participants of the NutriNet-Santé cohort, completing an organic food frequency questionnaire. Indicators related to nutrition, environment (3 indicators and the synthetic pReCiPe score) and economy are used distinguishing organic and conventional farming systems. To estimate compliance with the 2001 and 2017 FBDG, we used two validated adherence scores (PNNS-GS1 and PNNS-GS2, respectively). We estimated numbers of averted deaths by adhering to the FBDG using a Competing Risk Assessment model.Higher adherence to the 2017 guidelines was related to higher plant-based diet, cost and death averted and lower energy intake, lower synthetic environmental score and lower exposure to some pesticides.Overall, larger differences between lowest versus highest PNNS-GS2 were observed than between lowest versus highest PNNS-GS1. Our results suggest that the 2017 guidelines are overall in line with the multiple dimensions of diet sustainability, including health, although at a slight cost increase. If adopted by a large part of the population, these dietary guidelines may contribute to prevent chronic diseases while reducing food-related environmental pressures.
An organic diet may reduce dietary exposure to pesticides but findings based on observational data are scant. We aimed to compare urinary pesticide concentrations between "organic" and "conventional" consumers from the NutriNet-Santé study. Organic food consumption was determined using a self-reported food frequency questionnaire. Individuals with a proportion of organic food in the whole diet (in g/d) below 10% were defined as low organic food consumers and those whose proportion was above 50% as high organic food consumers. A propensity score matching procedure was then used to obtain two similar subsets of 150 participants, differing mostly by the organic valence of their diet. Urinary pesticide and metabolite concentrations (organophosphorus, pyrethroid, and azole compounds) were determined by UPLC-MS/MS, standardized with respect to creatinine. The molar sums of total diethylphosphates, dimethylphosphates, and dialkylphosphates were also computed. Differences in distributions across groups were tested using Wilcoxon signed-rank test for matched data. Mean age was 58.5 years and 70% of participants were women. Significantly lower urinary levels of diethylthiophosphate, dimethylthiophosphate, dialkylphosphates, and free 3-phenoxybenzoic acid were observed among organic consumers compared to conventional consumers. Our findings confirm that exposure to certain organophosphate and pyrethroïd pesticides in adults may be lowered by switching from conventional to organic foods. This is particularly of high interest among conventional fruit and vegetable consumers, as their exposure may be the highest.
Background Some pesticides, used in large quantities in current agricultural practices all over Europe, are suspected of adverse effects on human reproductive health (breast and prostate cancers), through mechanisms of endocrine disruption and possible carcinogenic properties, as observed in agricultural settings. However, evidence on dietary pesticide exposure and breast cancer (BC) is lacking for the general population. We aimed to assess the associations between dietary exposure to pesticides and BC risk among postmenopausal women of the NutriNet-Santé cohort. Methods In 2014, participants completed a self-administered semi-quantitative food-frequency questionnaire distinguishing conventional and organic foods. Exposures to 25 active substances used in EU plant-protection products were estimated using a pesticide-residue database accounting for farming practices, from Chemisches und Veterinäruntersuchungsamt Stuttgart, Germany. Non-negative matrix factorization (NMF), adapted for data with excess zeros, was used to establish exposure profiles. The four extracted NMF components’ quintiles were introduced into Cox models estimating hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidence interval (95% CI), adjusted for known confounding factors. Results A total of 13 149 postmenopausal women were included in the analysis (169 BC cases, median follow-up = 4.83 years). Negative associations between Component 3, reflecting low exposure to synthetic pesticides, and postmenopausal BC risk were found [HRQ5 = 0.57; 95% CI (0.34; 0.93), p-trend = 0.006]. Positive association between Component 1 score (highly correlated to chlorpyrifos, imazalil, malathion, thiabendazole) and postmenopausal BC risk was found specifically among overweight and obese women [HRQ5 = 4.13; 95% CI (1.50; 11.44), p-trend = 0.006]. No associations were detected for the other components. Conclusion These associations suggest a potential role of dietary pesticide exposure on BC risk. Further research is needed to investigate the mechanisms and confirm these results in other populations.
Background Studies focusing on dietary pesticides in population-based samples are scarce and little is known about potential mixture effects. We aimed to assess associations between dietary pesticide exposure profiles and Type 2 Diabetes (T2D) among NutriNet-Santé cohort participants. Methods Participants completed a Food Frequency Questionnaire at baseline, assessing conventional and organic food consumption. Exposures to 25 active substances used in European Union pesticides were estimated using the Chemisches und Veterinäruntersuchungsamt Stuttgart residue database accounting for farming practices. T2D were identified through several sources. Exposure profiles were established using Non-Negative Matrix Factorization (NMF), adapted for sparse data. Cox models adjusted for known confounders were used to estimate hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence interval (95% CI), for the associations between four NMF components, divided into quintiles (Q) and T2D risk. Results The sample comprised 33,013 participants aged 53 years old on average, including 76% of women. During follow-up (median: 5.95 years), 340 incident T2D cases were diagnosed. Positive associations were detected between NMF component 1 (reflecting highest exposure to several synthetic pesticides) and T2D risk on the whole sample: HRQ5vsQ1 = 1.47, 95% CI (1.00, 2.18). NMF Component 3 (reflecting low exposure to several synthetic pesticides) was associated with a decrease in T2D risk, among those with high dietary quality only (high adherence to French dietary guidelines, including high plant foods consumption): HRQ5vsQ1 = 0.31, 95% CI (0.10, 0.94). Conclusions These findings suggest a role of dietary pesticide exposure in T2D risk, with different effects depending on which types of pesticide mixture participants are exposed to. These associations need to be confirmed in other types of studies and settings, and could have important implications for developing prevention strategies (regulation, dietary guidelines). Trial Registration This study is registered in ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT03335644).
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