Providing a growing global population with healthy and sustainable diets is an immediate challenge. In the current study, estimates were obtained for the environmental footprints (land, water, and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions) in association with the Mediterranean diet (MED) and the EAT-Lancet reference diet, which represents a healthy diet derived from sustainable food systems. We used a newly developed Sustainable Healthy Diet (SHED) index that was validated for the Israeli population by Tepper et al. in 2020.
A group of 525 participants were recruited via social media, email, and phone. Demographic characteristics, quality of life, and answers to the SHED-index questionnaire were obtained. Dietary assessment was performed using the 116-item Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ), which was developed for the Israeli population. Adherence to the MED was calculated using a 9-point score. Adherence to the EAT-Lancet reference diet was assessed through the consumption of 14 food components. The environmental pressure of these dietary patterns was determined based on the “footprint family indicators,” which include land, water, and carbon footprints per unit of agricultural and food products. We assigned values for each food comprising the FFQ and calculated the environmental load for each dietary pattern. Statistical analyses were performed using the R package version 4.1.1 to compare environmental footprint values according to tertiles of the MED score, EAT-Lancet score, and SHED score.
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Our analysis reveals that animal protein is the highest contributor to GHG emissions and land use, while fruits and vegetables contribute the most to water consumption. Nevertheless, most of the fruits and vegetables are grown using treated wastewater, which reduces environmental pressure. Given these findings, we suggest that MED and EAT-Lancet dietary patterns should be included in national dietary guidelines.