Adherence to dietary recommendations for Swedish adults across categories of greenhouse gas emissions from food

Public Health Nutr. 2017 Dec;20(18):3381-3393. doi: 10.1017/S1368980017002300. Epub 2017 Sep 7.

Abstract

Objective: To explore associations between diet-related greenhouse gas emissions (GHGE), nutrient intakes and adherence to the Nordic Nutrition Recommendations among Swedish adults.

Design: Diet was assessed by 4d food records in the Swedish National Dietary Survey. GHGE was estimated by linking all foods to carbon dioxide equivalents, using data from life cycle assessment studies. Participants were categorized into quartiles of energy-adjusted GHGE and differences between GHGE groups regarding nutrient intakes and adherence to nutrient recommendations were explored.

Setting: Sweden.

Subjects: Women (n 840) and men (n 627) aged 18-80 years.

Results: Differences in nutrient intakes and adherence to nutrient recommendations between GHGE groups were generally small. The dietary intake of participants with the lowest emissions was more in line with recommendations regarding protein, carbohydrates, dietary fibre and vitamin D, but further from recommendations regarding added sugar, compared with the highest GHGE group. The overall adherence to recommendations was found to be better among participants with lower emissions compared with higher emissions. Among women, 27 % in the lowest GHGE group adhered to at least twenty-three recommendations compared with only 12 % in the highest emission group. For men, the corresponding figures were 17 and 10 %, respectively.

Conclusions: The study compared nutrient intakes as well as adherence to dietary recommendations for diets with different levels of GHGE from a national dietary survey. We found that participants with low-emission diets, despite higher intake of added sugar, adhered to a larger number of dietary recommendations than those with high emissions.

Keywords: Adherence; Climate change; Dietary recommendations; Greenhouse gas emissions; Nutrient intake.

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Aged, 80 and over
  • Body Mass Index
  • Carbon Dioxide / analysis
  • Diet
  • Diet Records
  • Dietary Carbohydrates / administration & dosage
  • Dietary Fats / administration & dosage
  • Dietary Fiber / administration & dosage
  • Dietary Proteins / administration & dosage
  • Exercise
  • Female
  • Greenhouse Gases / analysis*
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Micronutrients / administration & dosage
  • Middle Aged
  • Nutrition Assessment
  • Nutrition Surveys
  • Patient Compliance*
  • Recommended Dietary Allowances*
  • Socioeconomic Factors
  • Surveys and Questionnaires
  • Sweden
  • Young Adult

Substances

  • Dietary Carbohydrates
  • Dietary Fats
  • Dietary Fiber
  • Dietary Proteins
  • Greenhouse Gases
  • Micronutrients
  • Carbon Dioxide