Limiting meat consumption to 255 grams per week and eating more protein from sources such as grains, legumes, and nuts has been shown to be the best way to meet environmental demands (by reducing greenhouse gas emissions) and nutritional requirements, according to a study by the Technical University of Denmark (UTD), the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and the University of Michigan (UM). The calculation is based on environmental indicators for 2,589 food items consumed in the US and the effect of individual diets on land use, water consumption, and biodiversity loss. The benefit of limiting intake only applies to pork and poultry. The study suggests that red meat cannot be part of an environmentally sustainable diet, because of the deforestation required to create pasture areas and the high methane and nitrous oxide emissions. “Even moderate amounts of red meat in one’s diet are incompatible with what the planet can regenerate of resources based on the environmental factors we looked at in the study,” Caroline Gebara, from UTD, told the website ScienceAlert (Nature Food, March 21).
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