Environmental Impact of Dietary Choices: Role of the Mediterranean and Other Dietary Patterns in an Italian Cohort

Abstract

Background: Current scientific literature suggests healthy dietary patterns may have less environmental impact than current consumption patterns, but most of the studies rely on theoretical modeling. The aim of this study was to assess the impact on resources (land, water, and energy) use and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of healthy dietary patterns in a sample of Italian adults. Methods: Participants (n = 1806) were recruited through random sampling in the city of Catania, southern Italy. Dietary consumption was assessed through a validated food frequency questionnaire (FFQ); dietary patterns were calculated through dietary scores. The specific environmental footprints of food item production/processing were obtained from various available life-cycle assessments; a sustainability score was created based on the impact of the four environmental components calculated. Results: The contribution of major food groups to the environmental footprint showed that animal products (dairy, egg, meat, and fish) represented more than half of the impact on GHG emissions and energy requirements; meat products were the stronger contributors to GHG emissions and water use, while dairy products to energy use, and cereals to land use. All patterns investigated, with the exception of the Dietary Approach to Stop Hypertension (DASH), were linearly associated with the sustainability score. Among the components, higher adherence to the Mediterranean diet and Alternate Diet Quality Index (AHEI) was associated with lower GHG emissions, dietary quality index-international (DQI-I) with land use, while Nordic diet with land and water use. Conclusions: In conclusion, the adoption of healthy dietary patterns involves less use of natural resources and GHG emissions, representing eco-friendlier options in Italian adults.

Mediterranean Lifestyle to Promote Physical, Mental, and Environmental Health: The Case of Chile

“…In comparison with a standard Western diet, consumption of Mediterranean food patterns in adults has lower water and carbon footprints (WF and CF, respectively) and use less land and energy [ 100 ], see also [ 101 ] and [ 102 ] in this Special Issue ( Figure 2 ). Even though MedDiet considers a higher intake of oils and nuts compared to Western diet, the associated WF impact of these food items is counteracted by its lower intake of animal products [ 103 ].…”

Nutritional Quality and Health Effects of Low Environmental Impact Diets: The “Seguimiento Universidad de Navarra” (SUN) Cohort

“…It is well recognized that, in general, plant-based products are less environmentally damaging and resource consumptive than animal-derived foods [ 17 , 48 , 49 ]. Although small amounts of animal products could be consumed within the framework of an overall low impact diet [ 26 , 28 ], plant-based diets are generally less polluting on the environment [ 24 , 27 , 49 , 50 , 51 ]. In fact, moving away from current dietary patterns high in animal-based products to diets rich in plant-based products would have the potential to notably decrease the environmental impact of the food system [ 18 , 23 , 25 ].…”

“…The system boundaries included in the environmental impact assessment were agricultural production and food processing for GHG emission, water use and energy use, and only agricultural production for land use. This database has been previously used in other scientific studies [ 26 , 27 , 28 , 44 ].…”

“…Healthy diets are generally more environmentally friendly [ 26 , 27 , 28 ]. Indeed, some authors proposed leading with health messages in order to reduce dietary environmental impact, as the promotion of healthy diets would have a dual environmental gain; on the other hand, others have proposed messaging around dietary environmental impact only.…”

Insights on Mediterranean Diet from the SUN Cohort: Cardiovascular and Cognitive Health

“…The data provided is valuable, as a recent overview of literature showed a global decrease in adherence to the Mediterranean diet [38,39], while some surveys based in countries traditionally characterized by this dietary pattern (i.e., Italy and Greece) showed a nutrition transition process and a slow desertion of a Mediterranean-type dietary pattern in favour of more "Westernized" diets, rich in (ultra)processed foods, trans-fatty acids, refined cereals and added sugars [40][41][42]. Lately, higher adherence to the Mediterranean dietary pattern has been also proven to be a sustainable choice for the environment, as reported by the SUN and other Mediterranean cohorts [43][44][45]. However, as for all other prospective cohort studies, the SUN cohort shares similar limitations that should be taken into account when considering its results: recall bias, over-or under-estimation of food intake, reverse causation and confounding variables due to the clustering of healthy/unhealthy lifestyle habits are common limitations that cannot be overcome with an observational study design.…”