by Kathryn Vest – 

To what extent do the food choices you make impact your health and the environment? Agriculture and food production across the world account for 25% of all greenhouse gases¹. The huge amounts of greenhouse gases released in agriculture and other areas of human society have caused temperatures to soar to unprecedented levels, reaching 1°C above pre-industrial levels in 2017². In addition, red meat and saturated fat intake in Europe exceeds dietary recommendations³, causing significant health risks. Therefore, it is more important than ever to make changes in our everyday lives to tackle environmental issues and improve human health.

Temperature index from 1880 to 2020 (change compared to the baseline from 1951-1980). Image: NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies.

I will explore the article ‘Food choices, health and environment: effects of cutting Europe’s meat and dairy intake’³which outlines the impact that reducing ‘Europe’s meat and dairy intake’³ by 25-50% would have on health and the environment³.

The research shows that halving animal product consumption in the EU would decrease greenhouse gas emissions by 25-40%, nitrogen emissions by 40% and land use per person by 23%³. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is important because they enhance the greenhouse effect by absorbing and re-emitting infrared radiation⁴. The reduction in livestock lowers the demand for feed from 520 to 285 million tonnes and decreases the input and loss of reactive nitrogen across Europe³. Over the past 100 years humans have converted atmospheric nitrogen to reactive nitrogen, particularly for fertilisers⁵, which can increase ozone levels causing respiratory problems and damaging vegetation and when reactive nitrogen leaches out of the soil it can pollute water. Over 80% of nitrogen fertilisers are lost to the environment, less than 20% of the nitrogen is consumed in meat⁶.

A reduction in animal product consumption would lower health risks; diets rich in saturated fat increase the risk of stroke and cardiovascular diseases. There is also evidence that high intakes of red meat increase the risk of colorectal cancer. Indirect benefits to health from a decrease in emissions include improved water and air quality. Protein intake in the reduced meat and dairy diet is 10% lower however, the mean protein intake remains 50% higher than dietary requirements³, and chronic overconsumption of protein increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases and liver or kidney problems⁷. Additional health benefits could occur if fruit and vegetable intake is increased to replace energy, allowing us to meet recommended levels³. High meat consumption also aggravates the world hunger problem, as competition for agricultural land between food for humans and feed for animals is detrimental to global nutrition⁸. ‘To produce 1kg of animal protein, 6kg of plant protein⁹’ is needed.

In conclusion, this research demonstrates that reducing meat and dairy consumption would have positive effects on the environment and human health. Therefore, I believe that we need to work collectively across the globe to cut down our meat and dairy intake to help stop or even reverse environmental impacts, such as melting ice sheets, rising sea levels and extinctions, and improve our health and wellbeing.

The Greenhouse Effect explained. Image: US Environmental Protection Agency via Wikimedia Commons

References

1. Tilman, D., Clark, M. (2014) Global diets link environmental sustainability and human health. Nature 515, 518–522. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature13959
2. Allen, M.R., Dube, O.P., Solecki, W., Aragón-Durand, F., Cramer, W., Humphreys, S., Kainuma, M., Kala, J., Mahowald, N., Mulugetta, Y., Perez, R., Wairiu, M., and Zickfeld, K., (2018): Framing and Context. In: Global Warming of 1.5°C. An IPCC Special Report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels and related global greenhouse gas emission pathways, in the context of strengthening the global response to the threat of climate change, sustainable development, and efforts to eradicate, 51.
3. Westhoek, H., Lesschen, J.P., Rood, T., Wagner, S., De Marco, A., Murphy-Bokern, D., Leip, A., van Grinsven, H., Sutton, M.A. and Oenema, O. (2014) Food choices, health and environment: Effects of cutting Europe’s meat and dairy intake. Global Environmental Change 26, 196-205. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959378014000338
4. British Geological Survey (n.d.) The greenhouse effect https://www.bgs.ac.uk/discovering-geology/climate-change/how-does-the-greenhouse-effect-work/ [19/11/20]
5. United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (n.d.) Reactive Nitrogenhttps://www.unece.org/env/lrtap/taskforce/tfrn/welcome.html [23/11/20]
6. United Nations Environment Programme (2007) Reactive nitrogen in the environment, 6,15 and 17. https://wedocs.unep.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.11822/7761/Reactive_Nitrogen.pdf?sequence=3&isAllowed=y#:~:text=Leaching%20out%20of%20the%20soils,impact%20fish%20stocks%20and%20biodiversity.
7. Huizen, J. (2018) How much protein is too much? https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/322825#side-effects [23/11/20]
8. Stoll-Kleemann, S & O’Riordan, T (2015) The Sustainability Challenges of Our Meat and Dairy Diets, Environment. Science and Policy for Sustainable Development, 57:3, 34-48, DOI: 10.1080/00139157.2015.1025644
9. Pimentel D & Pimentel M (2003) Sustainability of meat-based and plant-based diets and the environment The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 78, 660S–663S,https://doi.org/10.1093/ajcn/78.3.660S
10. Press Office (2020) Confirmation that 2019 concludes warmest decade. https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/about-us/press-office/news/weather-and-climate/2020/confirmation-that-2019-concludes-warmest-decade-on-record[23/11/20]