Environmental Impact of Two Plant-Based, Isocaloric and Isoproteic Diets: The Vegan Diet vs. the Mediterranean Diet

Denise Filippin, Anna Rita Sarni, Gianluca Rizzo and Luciana Baroni ()
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Denise Filippin: Scientific Society for Vegetarian Nutrition, 30171 Venice, Italy
Anna Rita Sarni: Scientific Society for Vegetarian Nutrition, 30171 Venice, Italy
Gianluca Rizzo: Independent Researcher, Via Venezuela 66, 98121 Messina, Italy
Luciana Baroni: Scientific Society for Vegetarian Nutrition, 30171 Venice, Italy

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 5, 1-21

Abstract: Food consumption is one of the major causes of climate change, resource depletion, loss of biodiversity, and other kinds of environmental impact by modern households. According to evidence, a global change in dietary habits could be the single most effective and rapid intervention to reduce anthropic pressure on the planet, especially with respect to climate change. Our study applied Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to investigate the total environmental impact of two plant-based diets: the Mediterranean and the Vegan diets, according to relevant Italian nutritional recommendations. The two diets share the same macronutrient rates and cover all the nutritional recommendations. Calculations were made on the basis of a theoretical one-week 2000 kcal/day diet. According to our calculations, the Vegan diet showed about 44% less total environmental impact when compared to the Mediterranean diet, despite the fact that the content of animal products of the latter was low (with 10.6% of the total diet calories). This result clearly supports the concept that meat and dairy consumption plays a critical role, above all, in terms of damage to human health and ecosystems. Our study supports the thesis that even a minimal-to-moderate content of animal foods has a consistent impact on the environmental footprint of a diet, and their reduction can elicit significant ecological benefits.

Keywords: food system; climate change; life cycle assessment; LCA; environmental impact; sustainable diet; plant-based diets; environmental footprint (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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