Environmental impact of dietary patterns in 10 European countries; a cross-sectional analysis of nationally representative dietary surveys
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Published version
Author(s)
Alves, Ricardo
Perelman, Julian
Chang, Kiara
Millett, Christopher
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Changing dietary patterns is essential to reducing the substantial environment impact of agriculture and food production systems. We performed a cross-country comparison of dietary patterns and their associated environmental impact in Europe, including by sociodemographic factors. METHODS: We analyzed pooled cross-sectional dietary records collected during 2010-18 from 10 European countries using the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) Comprehensive European Food Database (16 508 adults; aged 18-79 years). Each food consumed was mapped to the corresponding environmental impact data using the SHARP Indicators Database, which provides greenhouse gas emission (GHGE) and land use (LU) values of approximately 900 foods. Total diet-associated environmental impact was calculated for each person and averaged across multiple days. Multivariable linear regression models were used to compare diet-associated GHGE and LU between population subgroups (gender, age, education and diet type) with country-level fixed effects. RESULTS: The mean dietary GHGE and LU per capita ranged from 4.0 kgCO2/day and 5.0 m2*year/day in Spain to 6.5 kgCO2eq/day and 8.2 m2*year/day in France. Diet-related GHGE and LU (per kg/food) were lower among females (2.6 kgCO2eq/day, B = -0.08, P < 0.01; 3.2 m2*year/day, B = -0.11, P < 0.01), older population aged 66-79 (2.6 kgCO2eq/day, B = -0.03, P < 0.01; 3.4 m2*year/day, B = -0.4, P < 0.01), people following vegetarian diets (1.7 kgCO2eq/day, B = -0.07, P < 0.01; 2.0 m2*year/day, B = -0.07, P < 0.01), and higher among individuals with secondary education (2.7 kgCO2eq/day, B = 0.05, P < 0.01; 3.6 m2*year/day, B = -0.05, P < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Environmental footprints vary substantially across countries, dietary patterns and between different sociodemographic groups in Europe. These findings are crucial for the development of country-specific food policies aimed at promoting environmentally sustainable diets.
Date Issued
2024-10
Date Acceptance
2024-05-01
Citation
European Journal of Public Health, 2024, 34 (5), pp.992-1000
ISSN
1101-1262
Publisher
Oxford University Press
Start Page
992
End Page
1000
Journal / Book Title
European Journal of Public Health
Volume
34
Issue
5
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Public Health Association.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
License URL
Identifier
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/38776529
Publication Status
Published
Coverage Spatial
England
Article Number
ckae088
Date Publish Online
2024-05-22