Research analyzes the environmental sustainability of children and adolescents’ diets

Our diet puts a strain on the earth’s resources. Therefore, there is an increasing importance of transitioning to a sustainable diet that benefits both our health and the health of the planet. Researchers from the University of Bonn analyzed the diets of children and adolescents in terms of their contribution to ecological sustainability indicators such as greenhouse gas emissions, land use and water use.

This research shows that there is both the potential and the need to make young people’s diets more sustainable. This research American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

“We tried to analyze age and time trends over the past 20 years,” explains Professor Ut Nesslings from the Institute of Nutrition and Food Science (IEL) at the University of Bonn. Her team used data from the DONALD study. Since 1985, the Dortmund Nutrition and Anthropometric Longitudinal Design Cohort Study has regularly collected detailed data on a variety of factors including diet, metabolism, development, and health status in children and adolescents.

The research team analyzed data from 856 school children aged 6 to 17. The children recorded their meals from 2000 to 2021 in more than 5,000 three-day weighed food records. The researchers used existing databases to calculate the environmental sustainability of the recorded diets in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, land use, and water use.

Possibility of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by changing dietary habits

“Studying the period from 2000 to 2010, we observed that greenhouse gas emissions values ​​increased for both girls and boys, but decreased since then,” the study said. Lead author Karen van de Rohcht of IEL summarizes: Member of the Interdisciplinary Research Area (TRA) “Sustainable Futures” at the University of Bonn.

“We conclude that changing dietary intake has the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Still, more needs to be done,” says TRA, “A Sustainable Future.” ” speaker and member of TRA “Life”, Juto Neslings added. And health. “As expected, we were able to show that the consumption of foods of animal origin is the largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions.”

As a further step, the study also analyzed the nutritional adequacy of the participants’ diets and found that, on average, they were suboptimal. “In particular, the average values ​​for calcium and iron were below the levels recommended in Germany, which is also reflected in the results of other studies,” van de Rohcht says.

The analyzes conducted in this study showed that diets with higher nutritional adequacy were not associated with reduced environmental impacts. “We conclude that nutritionally advantageous food choices are particularly important when reducing animal food intake in this age group,” says Nesslings.

The researchers argue that they support situational nutritional recommendations. Children and adolescents have special nutritional needs as they grow and are often underrepresented in nutritional research.

“Further research will help drive improvements in published recommendations to achieve diets that are both healthy and environmentally sustainable for children and young people,” concludes Nesslings. .