Abstract
There is growing concern about the nutritional quality and the environmental impact of the food we eat. Although the population is increasingly aware of adhering to diets that meet these requirements, the reality is that current dietary patterns deviate greatly from these recommendations. In the case of Portugal, the Mediterranean and Atlantic diets have traditionally coexisted in the country but it is predictable that current consumption patterns do not conform to them. Accordingly, the present research has a dual objective, taking the Portuguese dietary pattern as a case study. First, sustainability in terms of environmental and health impacts is monitored over a 9-year period (2008–2016), including the stages of production, distribution, and household activities. Secondly, an example of alternative diet is proposed in the pursuit of a more sustainable dietary pattern. The carbon footprint from a life cycle perspective has been selected for the environmental impact assessment and the Nutrient Rich Diet 9.3 index for the analysis of the nutritional quality. An average value of 4.20 kg CO2 eq·inhabitant−1·day−1 is reported for the Portuguese diet for the period under study. Regarding the alternative diet proposal, it leads to an increase of the nutritional quality of around 67%, and a reduction of the carbon footprint by approximately 25%, approaching the values of recommended diets such as the Mediterranean and the Atlantic ones. This research can serve as a reference for decision-makers, as well as to provide consumers with a clearer picture of what should be included in their food basket.
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Funding
This research has been supported by a project granted by Xunta de Galicia (project ref. ED431F 2016/001). Dr. S. González-Garcia would like to express her gratitude to the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness for financial support (Grant reference RYC-2014-14984). The authors belong to the Galician Competitive Research Group GRC ED431C 2017/29 as well as to CRETUS (ED431E 2018/01), co-funded by Xunta de Galicia and FEDER (EU). The authors belong to REGATA (ED341D R2016/033), network funded by the Galician Government. A.C. Dias acknowledges FCT/MCTES for a contract under Investigador FCT (IF/00587/2013), and for the financial support to CESAM (UID/AMB/50017 - POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007638), through national funds, and the co-funding by FEDER, within the PT2020 Partnership Agreement and Compete 2020.
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Esteve-Llorens, X., Dias, A.C., Moreira, M.T. et al. Evaluating the Portuguese diet in the pursuit of a lower carbon and healthier consumption pattern. Climatic Change 162, 2397–2409 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-020-02816-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-020-02816-0