Cropland Footprints of Australian Dietary Choices

Ridoutt, Bradley G.; Anastasiou, Kim; Baird, Danielle; Garcia, Javier Navarro; Hendrie, Gilly A.

doi:10.3390/nu12051212

Cited by 28 publications

(48 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…For example, the high carbon footprints in an urban Japanese population was largely explained by confectionary consumption, dining out, and alcohol consumption, whereas consumption of meat and vegetables contributed much less to the footprint-meat only contributed to 9% of the difference between low and high dietary carbon footprints (Kanemoto et al, 2019). Findings along similar lines were made recently in an Australian cohort, where "discretionary foods" (sugar-sweetened beverages, alcohol, confectionary, and other ultra-processed foods) made up the largest share of the environmental footprint (Ridoutt et al, 2020). Future studies should confirm this hypothesis in European and American households, but similar results can reasonably be expected due the prevalent consumption of the Standard Western/American diet.…”

Section: The Ecological Impacts Of Plant-based Meat Vs Meat Consumptionsupporting

confidence: 63%

Plant-Based Meats, Human Health, and Climate Change

Vliet

Kronberg

Provenza

2020

Front. Sustain. Food Syst.

133

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There is wide scale concern about the effects of red meat on human health and climate change. Plant-based meat alternatives, designed to mimic the sensory experience and nutritional value of red meat, have recently been introduced into consumer markets. Plant-based meats are marketed under the premise of environmental and human health benefits and are aimed appeal to a broad consumer base. Meat production is critiqued for its overuse of water supplies, landscape degradation, and greenhouse gas emission, and depending on production practices, environmental footprints may be lower with plant-based meat alternatives. Life-cycle analyses suggest that the novel plant-based meat alternatives have an environmental footprint that may be lower than beef finished in feedlots, but higher than beef raised on well-managed pastures. In this review, we discuss the nutritional and ecological impacts of eating plant-based meat alternatives vs. animal meats. Most humans fall on a spectrum of omnivory: they satisfy some nutrient requirements better from plant foods, while needs for other nutrients are met more readily from animal foods. Animal foods also facilitate the uptake of several plant-derived nutrients (zinc and iron), while plant nutrients can offer protection against potentially harmful compounds in cooked meat. Thus, plant and animal foods operate in symbiotic ways to improve human health. The mimicking of animal foods using isolated plant proteins, fats, vitamins, and minerals likely underestimates the true nutritional complexity of whole foods in their natural state, which contain hundreds to thousands of nutrients that impact human health. Novel plant-based meat alternatives should arguably be treated as meat alternatives in terms of sensory experience, but not as true meat replacements in terms of nutrition. If consumers wish to replace some of their meat with plant-based alternatives in the diet (a "flexitarian approach") this is unlikely to negatively impact their overall nutrient status, but this also depends on what other foods are in their diet and the life stage of the individual.

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Section: The Ecological Impacts Of Plant-based Meat Vs Meat Consumptionsupporting

confidence: 63%

Plant-Based Meats, Human Health, and Climate Change

Vliet

Kronberg

Provenza

2020

Front. Sustain. Food Syst.

133

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“…Dietary intake data were obtained from the National Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey component [ 27 ] of the Australian Health Survey [ 28 ] as described previously [ 29 , 30 , 31 ]. In brief, the dietary intake data were collected for 9341 adults by means of a 24-h recall process administered by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) using trained interviewers.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In order to integrate the dietary intake data with the climate impact data, processed foods and mixed dishes were disaggregated into their basic components and cooked food portions were translated into raw quantities. This task was undertaken during previous studies [ 29 , 30 , 31 ] and the same approach was used. For each individual daily diet, total energy intake was determined using data obtained from the Australian Food Composition Database [ 32 ], along with the number of serves of each of the food groups described in the Australian Dietary Guidelines [ 26 ].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diets within Environmental Limits: The Climate Impact of Current and Recommended Australian Diets

2021

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Planetary boundaries are an important sustainability concept, defining absolute limits for resource use and emissions that need to be respected to avoid major and potentially irreversible earth system change. To remain within the safe operating space for humanity, there is a need for urgent adoption of climate-neutral diets, which make no additional contribution to warming. In the first study of its kind, a new climate metric, the Global Warming Potential Star (GWP*), was used to assess greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with 9341 Australian adult diets obtained from the Australian Health Survey. Dietary climate footprints averaged 3.4 kg CO2-equivelent per person per day, with total energy intake explaining around one quarter of the variation. Energy-dense and nutrient-poor discretionary foods contributed around one third. With lower climate footprint food choices, a diet consistent with current Australian dietary guidelines had a 42% lower climate footprint. Currently, it is not possible to define a climate-neutral dietary strategy in Australia because there are very few climate-neutral foods in the Australian food system. To bring Australian diets into line with the climate stabilization goals of the Paris Agreement, the most important need is for innovation across the agricultural and food processing industries to expand the range of climate-neutral foods available.

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“…Therefore, in Table 5 the distribution of respondents by age and sustainability principles in vegetable consumption is presented. The respondents were asked to classify by importance some vegetable choice criteria that may be considered in a sustainable diet [29,30] without precisely specifying this aspect to the respondents.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Considering the previous studies on the topic of sustainable diets, their definition includes references to nutritional aspects [3,11,25], social aspects [26,27], economic aspects [28,29] and not last, environmental aspects, such as: type of production, inputs, water usage, provenance, and even transportation and storage of the products [29,30]. Yet, providing a clear definition for a sustainable diet is still not possible [31], since the four aspects are not self-defined, but they are interrelated [32,33].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influencing Factors of a Sustainable Vegetable Choice. The Romanian Consumers’ Case

Lădaru

Ilie²,

Diaconeasa

et al. 2020

Sustainability

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The behavior of vegetable consumption in the context of sustainable development has become a point of interest. Determining the barriers and the drivers for developing a sustainable consumption pattern, including food, should be a priority for every nation, as so to be able to design targeted food policies that would contribute to this development. Reducing the pressure on resources by diminishing meat consumption and increasing vegetable consumption is one of the global directions that should be followed. The situation of the current status of vegetable consumption in Romania is, therefore, important. Through an empirical quantitative analysis, the vegetable consumption pattern of Romanian consumers is presented. The results show that the respondents lack proper environmental education and concern, but unconsciously are aware of sustainability criteria such as choosing local and seasonal vegetables, choosing according to the freshness of the vegetables, and wasting little of these purchases. The main barriers determined in developing more sustainable vegetable choices in the case of Romanian consumers are income and time availability restrictions. It is also important to have the ability to identify the local, seasonal, and organic vegetables through specific labels, and to provide the local producers with the ability to sell their products in supermarkets, at fair prices. These would be the main drivers for developing a sustainable vegetable choice. Adding to that, an awareness campaign at the national level regarding the importance of individual choice would contribute to educating towards a sustainable purchasing pattern.

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Cropland Footprints of Australian Dietary Choices

Cited by 28 publications

References 54 publications

Plant-Based Meats, Human Health, and Climate Change

Plant-Based Meats, Human Health, and Climate Change

Diets within Environmental Limits: The Climate Impact of Current and Recommended Australian Diets

Influencing Factors of a Sustainable Vegetable Choice. The Romanian Consumers’ Case

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