Title |
Dietary greenhouse gas emissions of meat-eaters, fish-eaters, vegetarians and vegans in the UK
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Published in |
Climatic Change, June 2014
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DOI | 10.1007/s10584-014-1169-1 |
Pubmed ID | |
Authors |
Peter Scarborough, Paul N. Appleby, Anja Mizdrak, Adam D. M. Briggs, Ruth C. Travis, Kathryn E. Bradbury, Timothy J. Key |
Abstract |
The production of animal-based foods is associated with higher greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions than plant-based foods. The objective of this study was to estimate the difference in dietary GHG emissions between self-selected meat-eaters, fish-eaters, vegetarians and vegans in the UK. Subjects were participants in the EPIC-Oxford cohort study. The diets of 2,041 vegans, 15,751 vegetarians, 8,123 fish-eaters and 29,589 meat-eaters aged 20-79 were assessed using a validated food frequency questionnaire. Comparable GHG emissions parameters were developed for the underlying food codes using a dataset of GHG emissions for 94 food commodities in the UK, with a weighting for the global warming potential of each component gas. The average GHG emissions associated with a standard 2,000 kcal diet were estimated for all subjects. ANOVA was used to estimate average dietary GHG emissions by diet group adjusted for sex and age. The age-and-sex-adjusted mean (95 % confidence interval) GHG emissions in kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalents per day (kgCO2e/day) were 7.19 (7.16, 7.22) for high meat-eaters ( > = 100 g/d), 5.63 (5.61, 5.65) for medium meat-eaters (50-99 g/d), 4.67 (4.65, 4.70) for low meat-eaters ( < 50 g/d), 3.91 (3.88, 3.94) for fish-eaters, 3.81 (3.79, 3.83) for vegetarians and 2.89 (2.83, 2.94) for vegans. In conclusion, dietary GHG emissions in self-selected meat-eaters are approximately twice as high as those in vegans. It is likely that reductions in meat consumption would lead to reductions in dietary GHG emissions. |
X Demographics
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
United Kingdom | 111 | 14% |
United States | 97 | 12% |
France | 38 | 5% |
Australia | 24 | 3% |
Canada | 16 | 2% |
Ireland | 15 | 2% |
Finland | 13 | 2% |
India | 12 | 2% |
Spain | 10 | 1% |
Other | 91 | 11% |
Unknown | 367 | 46% |
Demographic breakdown
Type | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Members of the public | 669 | 84% |
Scientists | 71 | 9% |
Practitioners (doctors, other healthcare professionals) | 25 | 3% |
Science communicators (journalists, bloggers, editors) | 25 | 3% |
Unknown | 4 | <1% |
Mendeley readers
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
United States | 5 | <1% |
United Kingdom | 4 | <1% |
Germany | 3 | <1% |
France | 2 | <1% |
Australia | 2 | <1% |
Denmark | 2 | <1% |
Netherlands | 2 | <1% |
Finland | 2 | <1% |
Kenya | 1 | <1% |
Other | 8 | <1% |
Unknown | 1553 | 98% |
Demographic breakdown
Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Student > Bachelor | 341 | 22% |
Student > Master | 282 | 18% |
Student > Ph. D. Student | 191 | 12% |
Researcher | 153 | 10% |
Other | 48 | 3% |
Other | 169 | 11% |
Unknown | 400 | 25% |
Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Environmental Science | 225 | 14% |
Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 194 | 12% |
Social Sciences | 94 | 6% |
Engineering | 77 | 5% |
Medicine and Dentistry | 71 | 4% |
Other | 453 | 29% |
Unknown | 470 | 30% |