Improvement of diet sustainability with increased level of organic food in the diet: findings from the BioNutriNet cohort

Abstract

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.

Environmental and nutritional analysis of the EAT-Lancet diet at the individual level: insights from the NutriNet-Santé study

“…Three environmental indicators were computed, namely greenhouse gas emissions (GHGe), cumulative energy demand (CED), and land occupation (LO) whose computation has been extensively described elsewhere (Baudry et al, 2019). These impacts were considered at the farm level, i.e.…”

“…Data were derived from the DIALECTE tool (Pointereau et al, 2012) developed by Solagro (Toulouse, France) aiming to measure the environmental performance of conventional and organic farms. Data were completed using other data sources (Baudry et al, 2019).…”

“…Environmental impacts of 92 conventional and organic raw products were assessed and converted into food items using economic, cooking and edibility coefficients (Baudry et al, 2019). Environmental data related to raw products for both organic and conventional farming have been previously disclosed (Baudry et al, 2019). Procedures for environmental estimation is summarized on Figure 1.…”

“…Briefly, a database of prices by place of purchase was developed using the Kantar database (Kantar Worldpanel, n.d.), involving 20,000 French households, and further completed with collected prices for short supply chains which are not available in Kantar. This procedure has been extensively described elsewhere (Baudry et al, 2019;Seconda et al, 2018).…”

L’agriculture biologique : controverses et enjeux globaux de développement en Afrique

“…La croissance rapide du marché mondial de produits biologiques (Willer et Lernoud, 2016) interpelle les institutions de recherche agronomique engagées dans l'accompagnement des transformations de l'agriculture dans les pays en développement. Cette croissance est nourrie par une demande de consommateurs de plus en plus sensibilisés à la qualité sanitaire (microbiologie et résidus de pesticides) des aliments (Baudry et al, 2019) et plus particulièrement aux modes de production du point de vue des produits phyto-pharmaceutiques (Bellon et Penvern, 2014 ;Brureau et al, 2019). Cette croissance répond aussi à l'exigence d'accroître la résilience des systèmes alimentaires aux différentes instabilités climatiques et politiques (Dury et al, 2019).…”