A change can make the plan more respectful of the planet

Baltimore (June 10, 2019) – Food production is a major contributor to climate change, accounting for about a quarter of global carbon emissions. According to a study of the real world diet of thousands of people in the United States, we could significantly reduce the carbon footprint of what we eat by changing one food a day.

"We found that a substitution of beef for poultry resulted in an average halving of greenhouse gas emissions in the diet," said Diego Rose, lead author of the ### 39, study, PhD student, professor and director of nutrition at Tulane University.

Rose will present her research at Nutrition 2019, the annual meeting of the American Society for Nutrition, which was held from June 8 to 11, 2019 in Baltimore.

"To our knowledge, this is the only nationally representative study on the carbon footprint of individually selected diets in the United States," Rose said. "We hope this research will raise public awareness of the role of the food sector in climate change and the considerable impact of a simple dietary change."

The new study is based on information about the diet of more than 16,000 participants in the 2005-2010 national survey on health and nutrition. Part of this survey asked participants to remember all the foods they had eaten in the previous 24 hours. The researchers used this information to determine which foods produced the most greenhouse gas emissions and calculate the carbon footprint of each diet.

They found that the 10 most environmentally harmful foods were all cuts of beef and that about 20% of the participants reported consuming one of these carbon-rich foods. With the help of a simulation, the researchers calculated a new carbon footprint for each diet by replacing the beef with the nearest poultry product. For example, a grilled beef steak was replaced with grilled chicken and ground beef with chopped turkey. Each substitution was made only once for each person who consumed one of the high carbon foods.

Animal foods are known to contribute more to greenhouse gas emissions than foods of plant origin. Ruminant feeds such as beef and lamb have a particularly high carbon footprint, as cows and sheep also emit methane.

"Our simulation has shown that you must not give up animal products to improve your carbon footprint," Rose said. "A single food replacement has helped reduce an individual's carbon footprint by an average of 50 percent."

Researchers plan to expand this research, focusing on greenhouse gas emissions, to other environmental impacts such as water use.

Although they are not the focus of this study, they point out that food wastage and overeating also increase the carbon footprint of our diet. Thus, in addition to eating low-carbon foods, better meal planning and consumption of leftovers can also help reduce the carbon footprint.

Nutrition 2019 is the annual meeting of the American Society for Nutrition which is held from June 8 to 11, 2019 at the Baltimore Convention Center. It's the national gathering place for more than 3,600 researchers, practitioners and other renowned professionals to announce exciting research results and explore their implications for practice and policy. Scientific symposia focus on the latest advances in cellular and physiological nutrition and metabolism, clinical and translational nutrition, global and public health, population science, and food science and systems. http: // www.nutrition.org /N19 # Nutrition2019

ASN is the leading professional organization of nutrition researchers and clinicians in the world. Founded in 1928, the company brings together leading nutrition researchers, health practitioners, policy makers, and industry leaders to advance our knowledge and application of nutrition. ASN publishes four peer-reviewed journals and offers educational and professional development opportunities to advance nutrition research, practice and education. http: // www.nutrition.org

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