The health, environmental, and economic dimensions of future dietary transitions in Argentina

AGUIAR, SEBASTIÁN; BECARIA COQUET, JULIA; LEÓN, ALBERTO; GONZÁLEZ FISCHER, CARLOS; FERNÁNDEZ, ROBERTO; RIEZNIK, ANDRÉS; JOBBÁGY, ESTEBAN; ARRIETA, EZEQUIEL; GERI, MILVA; SCAVUZZO, CARLOS MATÍAS; GONZÁLEZ, ALEJANDRO

sustainability science

Springer

Año: 2021

1862-4057

Diets link human health with environmental sustainability, ofering promising pressure points to enhance the sustainability offood systems. We investigated the health, environmental, and economic dimensions of the current diet in Argentina and thepossible efects of six dietary change scenarios on nutrient adequacy, dietary quality, food expenditure, and six environmentalimpact categories (i.e., GHG emissions, total land occupation, cropland use, fossil energy use, freshwater consumption, andthe emission of eutrophying pollutants). Current dietary patterns are unhealthy, unsustainable, and relatively expensive, andall things being equal, an increase in income levels would not alter the health dimension, but increase environmental impactsby 33?38%, and costs by 38%. Compared to the prevailing diet, the six healthier diet alternatives could improve health withan expenditure between+27% (National Dietary Guidelines) to -5% (vegan diet) of the current diet. These dietary changescould result in trade-ofs between diferent environmental impacts. Plant-based diets showed the lowest overall environmentalimpact, with GHG emissions and land occupation reduced by up to 79% and 88%, respectively, without signifcant changesin cropland demand. However, fossil energy use and freshwater consumption could increase by up to 101% and 220%,respectively. The emission of eutrophying pollutants could increase by up to 54% for all healthy diet scenarios, except forthe vegan one (18% decrease). We conclude that the health and environmental crisis that Argentina (and other developingcountries) currently face could be mitigated by adopting healthy diets (particularly plant-based), bringing in the processbenefts to both people and nature