LCA Food 2012 in Saint Malo, France! - Manifestations et colloques ...

GROUP 3, SESSION A: LABELLING, CONSUMERS, DIET 8 th Int. Conference on LCA in the
Agri-Food Sector, 1-4 Oct 2012
762
72 Potential contribution of dietary changes to improvements in the
environment and human health
G.A. Rood 1,* , H. Westhoek, A. de Marco 2 , J.P. Lesschen 3 , A. Leip 4 , D. Nijdam, S. Wagner 3,1
1 PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, Bilthoven, The Netherlands, 2 ENEA, Rome, Italy,
3 Alterra, Wageningen-UR, Wageningen, The Netherlands, 4 European Commission - Joint Research Centre,
Institute for Environment and Sustainability, Ispra, Italy, Corresponding author. E-mail: trudy.rood@pbl.nl
The consumption of animal products has a large environmental impact, both within and outside Europe.
Livestock production is a large user of land and a source of greenhouse gas and nitrogen emissions. At the
consumption side, European diets are characterised by a high intake of protein, dominated by animal protein
and a relatively high intake of saturated fat, also mainly originating from animal products. Reducing meat
and dairy consumption could have various beneficial effects and offer a scope for change on a European
level.
For our study, we based consumption on supply data from the FAO. Health impacts were assessed by calculating
the intake of proteins, saturated fats and red meat, and comparing these intakes against health recommendations.
The recommendations were obtained from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the
World Cancer Research Fund (WHO, 2003; WCRF, 2007). Environmental impacts – from land use, and
greenhouse gas and nitrogen emissions – were assessed using a review of LCAs of animal products and the
MITERRA-Europe model. The MITERRA-Europe model calculates annual nitrogen flows and greenhouse
gas emissions from agriculture, following a life-cycle approach that reaches 'up to the farm gate' (Velthof et
al., 2009; Lesschen et al., 2011).
We assessed scenarios with reductions of 25% and 50% in beef and dairy consumption (S1, S4) and other
scenarios with similar reductions in pork, poultry and egg consumption and production (S2, S5). Furthermore,
scenarios with a 25% and 50% reduction in all meat and dairy were assessed (S3, S6). The energy
intake was kept at a constant level in all scenarios. Only the protein intake was decreased, taking into account
the minimum amount of protein recommended by the WHO.
Our study showed that reductions in meat and dairy consumption in fact decreased the environmental impacts,
due to the large differences in land use, and carbon and nitrogen footprints between food products.
Currently, European diets contain more proteins than necessary as well as more saturated fat which mainly
originates from animal products, than the maximum recommended amount by the WHO. Also, current intake
of red meats is higher than recommended by the WCRF. Diets with lower meat and dairy products have been
found to reduce the risk of various diseases. It was concluded that a decrease in the consumption of animal
products in the EU27 may result in a large reduction in environmental impacts and could be beneficial to
human health.
References
Lesschen J.P., van den Berg M., Westhoek H.J., Witzke H.P. and Oenema O. 2011. Greenhouse gas emission
profiles of European livestock sectors. Animal Feed Science & Technology 166-167, 16-28.
Velthof G.L., Oudendag D., Witzke H.P., Asman W.A.H., Klimont Z., Oenema, O. 2009. Integrated assessment
of nitrogen emissions from agriculture in EU-27 using MITERRA-EUROPE. J. of Environ. Quality
38, 402-417.
WCRF& AICR (2007), Food, nutrion, physical activity and the prevention of cancer: a global perspective.
2 nd Expert report ed. World Cancer Research Fund, Washington D.C.
WHO (2003a). Diet, Nutrition and the prevention of chronic diseases. WHO technical report series 916,
WHO, Geneva.
WHO (2003b). Food based dietary guidelines in the WHO European region. WHO-Europe, Copenhagen.