More meat is bad, Less is good - For health and environment - New research

New research explores the links between types of good and human health & environment

More meat is bad, Less is good - For health and environment - New research

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• The story: Animals convert only a small portion of the calories consumed, into meat. And ruminants produce a lot of methane, which accelerates global warming. Latest research confirmed these, and estimated the consequences for animal welfare using several indicators. These included how many animals lose their lives as a result of food consumption and under what conditions they are kept.
• One Health idea: What humans eat also has consequences for health and animal welfare. When comparing diets, these aspects should be taken into account. Experts refer to the optimal health of humans, animals and the environment from the 'One Health' perspective.

1. Studies that apply this perspective to nutrition issues are still rare
2. So researchers conducted an analysis that aims to fill this research gap to some extent (findings published in "Science of The Total Environment")

• Research methodology: The researchers took a look at examples of which products are on the food basket of people in North Rhine-Westphalia, and compared this reference diet with three different scenarios: a shift according to the recommendations of the German Nutrition Society (DGE), a shift to a Mediterranean diet with more fish and seafood, and a shift to a vegan diet.

1. In each of these three scenarios, the foods were chosen to differ from the reference diet as little as possible. 
2. So in the Mediterranean version, researchers increased the proportion of fish and seafood, vegetables and grain products,
3. In addition, the overall product selection should contain the same nutrients in similar amounts as before. This gave the researchers a food basket for each scenario, which they then analyzed further.
4. Various databases were used, which enabled them to estimate the impact of each diet on certain environmental aspects - such as the amount of greenhouse gases produced during their production or the water consumption. 
5. A similar approach was taken to assess the impact of each diet on health. Red meat, for example, is known to increase the risk of certain cancers and cardiovascular disease.

• Animal welfare: The researchers estimated the consequences for animal welfare using several indicators. These included how many animals lose their lives as a result of food consumption and under what conditions they are kept. But they also used the number of neurons or the size of the brain in relation to the body to estimate the extent to which the respective animals actually suffer when they are used. 
• Fish instead of steak: Any of the three diets would be sustainably beneficial from a One Health perspective. However, this is also at the expense of other aspects. The vegan diet scored best in many areas. However, the production of vegan food involves increased water consumption. Vegans need to take certain nutrients separately, such as vitamin B12, vitamin D and even calcium.

1. The Mediterranean diet (although healthy) also results in increased water requirements due to the high amount of nuts and vegetables. Moreover, if the meat consumed is completely replaced by fish, its effects on animal welfare are negative: As fish and seafood are much smaller than, for instance, cows or pigs, considerably more animals suffer as a result of this diet.
2. The increased consumption of honey, which requires intensive management of bee colonies, also has a negative impact. It'd therefore beneficial to meet less of man's overall protein needs from animal sources. In addition, many people today have diets that are significantly too rich. If they reduced the amount of food they ate, to what they really need, it might have additional positive effects.
3. So, if you do without meat more often and instead put whole grains, vegetables and fruit on your plate, you are not only doing something good for yourself, but also for the animals and the environment. 

• EXAM QUESTIONS: (1) Explain the intimate links between environment, human food needs, animal welfare and industrial production. (2) Why is methane targeting called the 'low hanging fruit' of battle against global warming? Explain.

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