Adherence to the Mediterranean Diet and Environmental Impact of the Diet on Primary School Children Living in Parma (Italy)

Alice Rosi, Beatrice Biasini, Michele Donati, Cristian Ricci and Francesca Scazzina
Additional contact information
Alice Rosi: Department of Food and Drugs, University of Parma, 43124 Parma, Italy
Beatrice Biasini: Department of Food and Drugs, University of Parma, 43124 Parma, Italy
Michele Donati: Department of Chemistry, Life Sciences and Environmental Sustainability, University of Parma, 43124 Parma, Italy
Cristian Ricci: Pediatric Epidemiology, Department of Pediatrics, Medical Faculty, Leipzig University, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
Francesca Scazzina: Department of Food and Drugs, University of Parma, 43124 Parma, Italy

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 17, 1-14

Abstract: The key role of diet in both human health and environmental sustainability is well known. However, there is a lack of studies investigating the environmental impact of children’s dietary behavior. The aim of this observational study was to investigate the dietary environmental impact in a sample of primary school children living in Parma (Italy, n = 172, 8–10 years), in relation to their adherence to the Mediterranean diet (MD). Children completed a 3-day food record in both winter and spring. Dietary records were processed to obtain: (i) adherence to the MD and (ii) mean daily carbon and ecological footprints. Adherence to the MD was similar in winter and spring, with almost half of the participants showing a medium MD score. Carbon and ecological footprints were higher during winter, and the main dietary contributors were red and processed meat for both indexes. A small positive correlation was observed between adherence to the MD and total carbon and ecological footprints. This study provided the first analysis of the relationship between adherence to the MD and environmental impact of primary school children. Further research is needed to better investigate the environmental impact of primary school children’s diet and the possible relationship between the MD and environmental sustainability.

Keywords: Mediterranean diet; children; sustainability; life cycle assessment; carbon footprint; ecological footprint; greenhouse gas emission; food diary; meat; fruit and vegetables (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/17/6105/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/17/6105/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:17:p:6105-:d:402315

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().