Conrad Zach, Drewnowski Adam, Love David C
Department of Kinesiology, William & Mary, Williamsburg, VA, United States.
Global Research Institute, William & Mary, Williamsburg, VA, United States.
Front Nutr. 2023 Aug 2;10:1220016. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2023.1220016. eCollection 2023.
Few studies have evaluated the sustainability of popular diet patterns in the US, which limits policy action and impedes consumer efficacy to make sustainable dietary changes. This study filled this gap by evaluating the relationship between diet quality, greenhouse gas emissions (GHGE), and diet cost for plant-based, restricted carbohydrate, low grain, low fat, and time restricted diet patterns.
Dietary data were retrieved from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2011-2018, = 8,146) and linked with data on GHGE and food prices from publicly available databases. Diet quality was measured using the Healthy Eating Index-2015. The present study (1) compared the mean diet quality, GHGE, and diet cost between diet patterns, (2) evaluated the association of diet quality to GHGE and diet cost for each diet pattern, and (3) estimated the contribution of food sources to GHGE and diet cost for each diet pattern.
Higher diet quality was associated with lower GHGE for the general population and for most diet patterns ( < 0.01) except for the plant-based and time restricted diet patterns ( > 0.05). Higher diet quality was associated with higher cost for the general population and for all dietary patterns ( < 0.01) except the time restricted diet pattern ( > 0.05). Protein foods, mostly beef, accounted for the largest share of GHGE (29-40%) and diet cost (28-47%) for all diet patterns except plant-based.
Higher diet quality was associated with lower GHGE but was often accompanied by higher diet cost. These sustainability trade-offs can help inform major policy discussions in the US and shed light on further research needs in the area of food systems transformation.
很少有研究评估美国流行饮食模式的可持续性，这限制了政策行动，并阻碍了消费者做出可持续饮食改变的成效。本研究通过评估植物性、低碳水化合物、低谷物、低脂肪和限时饮食模式的饮食质量、温室气体排放（GHGE）和饮食成本之间的关系，填补了这一空白。
从国家健康与营养检查调查（2011 - 2018年，n = 8146）中检索饮食数据，并与公开数据库中关于温室气体排放和食品价格的数据相链接。使用2015年健康饮食指数来衡量饮食质量。本研究（1）比较了不同饮食模式之间的平均饮食质量、温室气体排放和饮食成本，（2）评估了每种饮食模式下饮食质量与温室气体排放和饮食成本的关联，（3）估计了每种饮食模式下食物来源对温室气体排放和饮食成本的贡献。
除了植物性和限时饮食模式（p > 0.05）外，总体人群和大多数饮食模式中，较高的饮食质量与较低的温室气体排放相关（p < 0.01）。除限时饮食模式（p > 0.05）外，总体人群和所有饮食模式中，较高的饮食质量与较高的成本相关（p < 0.01）。除植物性饮食模式外，蛋白质类食物（主要是牛肉）在所有饮食模式的温室气体排放（29 - 40%）和饮食成本（28 - 47%）中占比最大。
较高的饮食质量与较低的温室气体排放相关，但往往伴随着较高的饮食成本。这些可持续性权衡有助于为美国的重大政策讨论提供信息，并揭示食品系统转型领域的进一步研究需求。
