Abstract
To identify differences in dietary quality, dietary greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and food consumption over 20 years in a Dutch cohort. Participants (n8932) filled out an FFQ in 1993-1997 and in 2015. The Dutch Healthy Diet index 2015 (DHD15-index) score, GHG emissions and consumption of food groups (g/4184kJ (1000kcal)) were compared between the time points with paired t tests. The Netherlands. European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition - Netherlands (EPIC-NL) cohort, aged 18-65 years at baseline. Total energy intake decreased by -678 (95 % CI -4908, 3377)kJ/d (-162 (95 % CI -1173, 807)kcal/d) for men and -372 (95 % CI -3820, 3130)kJ/d (-89 (95 % CI -913, 748)kcal/d) for women. DHD15-index scores increased by 11 % (from 64·8 to 71·9points) and 13 % (from 65·2 to 73·6points) in men and women, respectively (P<0·0001), mainly due to an increased (shell)fish and nuts/seeds/nut paste consumption. After energy intake adjustment, dietary-related GHG emissions increased by 5 % in men (2·48-2·61kgCO2-eq/4184kJ (1000kcal), P<0·0001) and were similar in women (0·4 %, 2·70-2·71kgCO2-eq/4184kJ (1000kcal), P=0·3930) due to the increased consumption of (shell)fish, nuts/seeds/nut paste, poultry and higher GHG-intensive red meats such as beef. This Dutch cohort analyses showed more healthy diets without mitigated GHG emissions over a 20-year period, at similar energy intakes. Higher consumption of (shell)fish and poultry was not yet at the expense of red and processed meat. Lower consumption of animal-based foods is needed to achieve healthier as well as environmentally friendly diets.
Highlights
The life-cycle assessment data were combined with the EPIC-NL FFQ data both at baseline and at follow-up to calculate daily greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with the usual diet in kilograms of CO2-equivalents per person per day
Mean and SD values at baseline and follow-up were calculated for each indicator (the DHD15-index score, GHG emissions and food groups (g/4184 kJ))
The associated GHG emissions of the animal-based foods statistically significantly increased from 1·54 to 1·70 and from 1·69 to 1·78 kg CO2-eq/4184 kJ in men and women, respectively (Fig. 3(c) and (d)), mainly because of the higherfish, poultry, and type of red meat consumption (Table 2)
Summary
Study population EPIC-NL[17] consists of 40 011 participants of the two Dutch contributors to the European-wide EPIC project, being EPIC-Prospect[18] and EPIC-MORGEN[19,20], both carried out between 1993 and 1997. Animal-based were the components dairy, (shell)fish, and red and processed meat with a combined maximum score of 30 points on the DHD15-index. The life-cycle assessment data were combined with the EPIC-NL FFQ data both at baseline and at follow-up to calculate daily GHG emissions associated with the usual diet in kilograms of CO2-equivalents per person per day (kg CO2-eq/person per d). Improvements in production over time may most likely have decreased the environmental impact, we applied the same life-cycle assessment data to both the baseline and followup FFQ because the observed differences in environmental impact are directly related to the dietary changes. Mean and SD values at baseline and follow-up were calculated for each indicator (the DHD15-index score, GHG emissions (kg CO2-eq/ 4184 kJ) and food groups (g/4184 kJ)). A P value below 0·05 was considered statistically significant and all analyses were performed with the statistical software package SAS version 9.4
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