Nutritious Foods are More Environmentally Sustainable

A comprehensive study by Oxford University researchers has assessed the environmental impact of over 57,000 food products across four indicators: greenhouse gas emissions, land use, water stress, and eutrophication potential. The results showed that the most nutritious foods - including fruit, vegetables and cereals - also had the lowest environmental footprint, while meat, poultry, fish and dairy were the most damaging to the environment.

The study assessed publicly available information on a wide array of food products available in the UK and Ireland, and used sophisticated algorithms to derive their environmental impacts. They also used a food health profiling method that accounts for beneficial components, such as protein and fiber, as well as nutrients that should be limited, such as salt, sugars, and saturated fats.

The findings are in alignment with previous research showing that foods associated with improved health (whole grain cereals, fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts) have among the lowest environmental impacts, while foods linked with the highest environmental impacts (processed and unprocessed red meat) are consistently associated with the greatest increases in disease risk.

The researchers concluded that “communicating the environmental impacts of food products will be integral to achieving the food system transformations that are urgently needed to prevent rapid environmental degradation”. Since plant-based dietary patterns tend to be both environmentally sustainable and more nutritious, it’s becoming ever more clear that they could be key to improving both public and planetary health.

References:

Clark, M., Springmann, M., Rayner, M., Scarborough, P., Hill, J., Tilman, D., Macdiarmid, J. I., Fanzo, J., Bandy, L., & Harrington, R. A. (2022). Estimating the environmental impacts of 57,000 food products. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 119(33), e2120584119.

Fresán, & Sabaté, J. (2019). Vegetarian Diets: Planetary Health and Its Alignment with Human Health. Advances in Nutrition (Bethesda, Md.), 10, S380–S388.