Healthy diets with reduced environmental impact? – The greenhouse gas emissions of various diets adhering to the Dutch food based dietary guidelines

Abstract

Diets adhering to food based dietary guidelines did not substantially reduce GHG emissions compared to the current Dutch diet, when these diets stayed as close to the current diet as possible. Omitting meat from these healthy diets or consuming only foods with relatively low associated GHG emissions both resulted in GHG emission reductions of around a third. These findings may be used to expand food based dietary guidelines with information on how to reduce the environmental impact of healthy diets.

Development of healthy and sustainable food-based dietary guidelines for the Netherlands

“…For adult women, who currently consume 615 g/week (22) , this reduction is less substantial. Recently, Van de Kamp et al (61) showed that the shift from the current Dutch diet to the recommended dietary pattern in the Wheel of Five reduces GHGE up to 13 % for men aged 31-50 years, whereas they increase slightly by 2-5 % for women. More substantial reductions in GHGE are achieved with a further reduction of meat and replacing it by nuts, legumes and eggs.…”

“…More substantial reductions in GHGE are achieved with a further reduction of meat and replacing it by nuts, legumes and eggs. Alternatively, substantial reductions can be achieved by consuming only foods and beverages with relatively low GHGE within each food group, such as drinking tap water, coffee and tea and limiting the consumption of highly processed foods (61) . In line with this, the Netherlands Nutrition Centre provides additional practical advice for consumers to help them to make more sustainable choices: for instance, by examples of weekly menus that include four daily menus with meat and three daily menus with meat alternatives; by the recommendation to eat local fruits and vegetables of the season (65) ; as well as by practical recommendations to prevent food waste and providing information on animal welfare and sustainability labels.…”

Are our diets getting healthier and more sustainable? Insights from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition – Netherlands (EPIC-NL) cohort

“…The life-cycle assessment was performed using Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) data (Blonk Consultants, data set version 2016) from Agri-Footprint ( 30 , 31 ) . These LCI data were representative for the Dutch situation.…”

“…GHG emissions were expressed as kilograms of CO 2 -equivalents per kilogram of food prepared at plate (kg CO 2 -eq/kg). The environmental data used were previously presented by Van de Kamp et al ( 31 ) . The life-cycle assessment data were combined with the EPIC-NL FFQ data both at baseline and at follow-up to calculate daily GHG emissions associated with the usual diet in kilograms of CO 2 -equivalents per person per day (kg CO 2 -eq/person per d).…”

Broadening influence on the food supply and environmental sustainability

“…Other studies have also concluded that reductions in meat consumption would lead to reductions in GHG emissions as those of meat and dairy consumers are about twice those of vegans. [18][19][20][21] This issue of Nutrition & Dietetics includes a collection of articles that relate to nutritional improvements in the food supply, including recipe modifications to reduce sodium content, 22 implementation of healthy food policies in health services, 23 the development of national meal guidelines for Meals on Wheels programs 24 and the impact of health star labelling on the reformulation of packaged foods. 25 As more and more people consume food prepared by others, such approaches will continue to be important for the work of dietitians.…”