Click here to sign in with or
Forget Password?
Learn more
share this!
18
Twit
Share
Email
May 16, 2024
This article has been reviewed according to Science X’s editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content’s credibility:
fact-checked
peer-reviewed publication
trusted source
proofread
by Katrin Piecha, University of Bonn
Our diet puts a strain on planetary resources. Shifting to a sustainable diet that benefits both our health and that of the planet is therefore assuming increasing importance. Researchers at the University of Bonn have analyzed the diets of children and adolescents in terms of their contribution to the ecological sustainability indicators of greenhouse gas emissions, land use and water use.
The study shows that there is both the potential and a need to make the diet of younger generations more sustainable. The study has been published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
“We sought to analyze age and temporal trends over the past 20 years,” explains Professor Ute Nöthlings from the Institute for Nutritional and Food Science (IEL) at the University of Bonn. Her team drew on data from the DONALD study. The Dortmund Nutritional and Anthropometric Longitudinally Designed cohort study has been collecting detailed data on a range of factors including the diet, metabolism, development and health status of children and adolescents at regular intervals since 1985.
The team analyzed data from 856 schoolchildren aged between six and 17. The children recorded their diet between 2000 and 2021 in a total of over 5,000 3-day-weighed dietary records. The researchers calculated the environmental sustainability of the recorded diets in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, land use and water use using existing databases.
“Studying the period from 2000 to 2010, we observed that the values for greenhouse gas emissions increased for both girls and boys, but have also decreased since then,” summarizes the study’s first author Karen van de Locht from the IEL, who is also a member of the Transdisciplinary Research Area (TRA) “Sustainable Futures” at the University of Bonn.
“We have concluded that there is potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by changing dietary intakes. Nevertheless, more needs to be done,” adds Ute Nöthlings, who is the speaker of the TRA “Sustainable Futures” and a member of the TRA “Life and Health.” “We were able to show that as expected, the consumption of animal-based foods is most responsible for greenhouse gas emissions.”
In a further step, the study also analyzed the nutrient adequacy of the diets of the participants and found that on average, it was not optimal. “The average values for calcium and iron in particular were below the levels recommended in Germany; this is also reflected in the results of other studies,” says van de Locht.
The analyses performed by the study showed that a diet with a higher nutrient adequacy were not associated with reduced environmental impact. “We conclude that nutritionally favorable food choices are especially important when reducing the consumption of animal-based foods in this age group,” says Nöthlings.
The researchers argue in favor of context-related nutritional recommendations. Children and adolescents have special nutritional needs due to their growth, but they are often underrepresented in nutritional research.
“More studies will help foster the improvement of recommendations issued to achieve an ecologically sustainable diet that is also healthy for children and young people,” concludes Nöthlings.
More information: Karen van de Locht et al, Environmental sustainability of diets among children and adolescents in the German DONALD cohort study: age and time trends, and nutrient adequacy, The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.ajcnut.2024.04.026
Journal information: American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
Journal information: American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
Provided by University of Bonn
Explore further
Facebook
Twitter
Email
Feedback to editors
16 hours ago
3
16 hours ago
0
May 15, 2024
0
May 15, 2024
0
May 15, 2024
7
2 hours ago
9 hours ago
10 hours ago
10 hours ago
10 hours ago
11 hours ago
12 hours ago
12 hours ago
12 hours ago
12 hours ago
16 hours ago
May 8, 2024
May 8, 2024
May 8, 2024
May 2, 2024
Apr 20, 2024
More from Earth Sciences
Mar 8, 2024
May 7, 2024
Apr 7, 2022
Nov 3, 2021
Mar 27, 2024
Jul 24, 2023
9 hours ago
14 hours ago
14 hours ago
14 hours ago
May 15, 2024
May 15, 2024
Use this form if you have come across a typo, inaccuracy or would like to send an edit request for the content on this page. For general inquiries, please use our contact form. For general feedback, use the public comments section below (please adhere to guidelines).
Please select the most appropriate category to facilitate processing of your request
Thank you for taking time to provide your feedback to the editors.
Your feedback is important to us. However, we do not guarantee individual replies due to the high volume of messages.
Your email address is used only to let the recipient know who sent the email. Neither your address nor the recipient’s address will be used for any other purpose. The information you enter will appear in your e-mail message and is not retained by Phys.org in any form.
Get weekly and/or daily updates delivered to your inbox. You can unsubscribe at any time and we’ll never share your details to third parties.
More information Privacy policy
We keep our content available to everyone. Consider supporting Science X’s mission by getting a premium account.
Medical research advances and health news
The latest engineering, electronics and technology advances
The most comprehensive sci-tech news coverage on the web