The health benefits of meat-based and plant-based diets are often hotly debated both in the research community and by self-proclaimed health experts on social media platforms. The new study adds another checkmark to the plant-based column. This time around, we’re looping through the environmental impacts of choosing a paleo or keto diet over veganism. Researchers hope that it could help
When it comes to more extreme diets, the Paleo and Keto diets are on one side of the field, and veganism is on the other. Vegans avoid all animal products and animal by-products in their diets.
While it’s possible to find studies touting some benefits and some drawbacks to human health from both diets, researchers at Tulane University took a slightly different approach to comparing meal plans. I took Atmosphere versus a plant-based diet. Since carbon dioxide is a major driver of global warming trends, understanding how it is released into the atmosphere will help mitigation efforts.
To summarize the results, the researchers used information from a previously developed database called dataField. This database tracks the carbon footprint of various foods. They also found that by applying point values derived from the Federal Healthy Eating Index to data from his more than 16,000 adults participating in the CDC’s National Health and Nutrition Examination Study, a variety of We investigated the nutritional impact of different diets.
They found that for every 1,000 calories consumed, the keto diet produced about 3 kg of carbon dioxide, while the paleo diet released 2.6 kg of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. emits only 0.7 kg of carbon dioxide for every 1,000 calories consumed. In other words, paleo and keto diets emit about four times more greenhouse gases than vegan diets. In the middle of the field, an omnivore that made up 86% of his study subjects, he released 2.2 kg of carbon dioxide per 1,000 calories.
The researchers found that if only one-third of omnivores switched to a vegetarian diet, the environmental impact would be the same as removing 340 million miles of carbon emissions in a car on a given day. They say their findings show that it will be about
On the health side, the study gave the pescatarian diet the highest rating: it releases 1.66 kg of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere for every 1,000 calories, making it a kind of compromise between nutritional quality and carbon footprint. Vegan and vegetarian diets followed closely in terms of their high nutritional content, while keto and paleo diets lagged behind.
“Climate change is arguably one of the most pressing issues of our time, and many people are interested in transitioning to a plant-based diet,” said Diego Rose, senior author of the study. “Based on our results, it reduces your footprint and is healthier in general. It shows that there is a way.
This research American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
Source: Tulane University
