This website no longer supports Internet Explorer 11. Please use a more up-to-date browser such as Firefox, Chrome for better viewing and usability.
  • Instagramm
  • Linkedin
  • Youtube

New study shows that dietary guidelines need revision to account for environmental impact

Basket with vegetables

Both contribute to lower environmental impacts: More plant-based food... (Photo: Marion Nitsch)

Cows with calf in the meadow

...and a husbandry system where animal feed does not compete with food for humans. (Photo: FiBL, Claudia Schneider)

Dietary guidelines issued by national governments aim to set a roadmap for consumers to live healthy. A new study challenges national dietary guidelines assessments to include the environmental impact of food production, with implications for how dietary guidelines account not just for the health of the human population, but also the planet. Researchers from FiBL Switzerland were greatly involved in the study.

While some countries such as Germany and Sweden do currently account for environmental sustainability in their nutritional guidance to citizens, for most nations, food-based dietary guidelines are designed strictly around human health and nutrition. The study, published on 13 June in the journal Lancet Planetary Health, explored five European countries – Bulgaria, Malta, the Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland – with different geographies and cultural habits. The researchers used the principles of circular food production systems to assess environmental consequences and nutritional contributions of national food-based dietary guidelines.

Animal food products are crucial for environmental impacts

They found that reductions in the recommended amount of animal products in diets had the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in most cases. Additionally, the use of circularity principles in agriculture would allow for improved land use. The study found that Sweden and the Netherlands could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 12 % and 24 % and reduce land use by 22 % and 24 %, respectively.

Environmental impacts must be critical considerations when devising national dietary guidelines, according to the study authors. Circular food production systems, which emphasize closed nutrient cycles, are essential to producing food on less land and with reduced environmental impacts.

The authors suggest that for the full environmental impact to be realized, a full transformation of the food system is necessary. The changes include substantial reductions in total animal numbers and animal products, investing in livestock breeds that are better suited to low-opportunity-cost biomass, and a shift in the amount of mineral fertilizers and livestock feed imports.

According to the authors, "Only by consistent transformations of food systems in this regard can the estimated environmental improvements be reached."

In addition to FiBL, the University of Wageningen (Netherlands), Zurich (Switzerland) and Cornell (USA) were involved in the research project. It was funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation and the Dutch Research Council.

Text from Wageningen University & Research

Further information

Contact

Anita Frehner

Link

  • scinecedirect.com: Study "The compatibility of circularity and national dietary recommendations for animal products in five European countries: a modelling analysis on nutritional feasibility, climate impact, and land use"
  • linkedin.com: Blog post "A diet based on dietary guidelines does not align with circularity principles"