Single-item substitutions can substantially reduce the carbon and water scarcity footprints of US diets.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Human food systems substantially affect the environment, but the impacts vary widely by food. Guidance to individuals to reduce their dietary impacts would benefit from easy advice, but little is known about the specific population impacts of simple changes on self-selected diets.

Objectives

The objective was to estimate the potential impact of a single dietary substitution on the carbon and water scarcity footprints of self-selected diets in the United States.

Methods

This cross-sectional modeling study used 24-h dietary recall data from the 2005-2010 waves of the NHANES. Greenhouse gas emissions (GHGE) in the production of foods as well as irrigated water use, characterized by its relative scarcity at production locations, were matched to all foods in the

SUBMITTER: Rose D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8827079 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature