The carbon footprints of six popular diets - so how does YOURS stack up?  trends now

The carbon footprints of six popular diets - so how does YOURS stack up?  trends now
The carbon footprints of six popular diets - so how does YOURS stack up?  trends now

The carbon footprints of six popular diets - so how does YOURS stack up?  trends now

Most of us try to stay healthy by maintaining an active lifestyle and keeping a close eye on what we put into our bodies.

But what we eat also has an impact on the environment, with the carbon footprints associated with different foods varying considerably.

Researchers at Tulane University in New Orleans have calculated the carbon footprints of six popular diets, and compared these to their nutritional values.

The popular ketogenic, or 'keto', diet, which involves replacing carbohydrates with fat, was found to be both the least sustainable, and to have the lowest nutrition quality. 

At the other end of the scale, the vegan diet was found to have the lowest carbon footprint, while a pescatarian diet was the best in terms of nutrition. 

Researchers at Tulane University in New Orleans have calculated the carbon footprints of six popular diets, and compared these to their nutritional values

Researchers at Tulane University in New Orleans have calculated the carbon footprints of six popular diets, and compared these to their nutritional values

The popular ketogenic, or 'keto', diet, which involves replacing carbohydrates with fat, was found to be both the least sustainable, and to have the lowest nutrition quality (stock image)

The popular ketogenic, or 'keto', diet, which involves replacing carbohydrates with fat, was found to be both the least sustainable, and to have the lowest nutrition quality (stock image)

In the study, published today in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, the researchers set out to assess the environmental impacts and nutritional qualities of complete diets, as opposed to just individual food products.

The carbon footprints of faddy diets 
Keto diet (6.4lbs of CO2 for every 1,000 calories consumed)  Paleo diet (5.8lbs of CO2 for every 1,000 calories consumed) Omnivore (4.9lbs of CO2 for every 1,000 calories consumed)  Pescatarian (3.7lbs of CO2 for every 1,000 calories consumed)  Vegetarian (2.6lbs of CO2 for every 1,000 calories consumed) Vegan (1.5lbs of CO2 for every 1,000 calories consumed)

Advertisement

Six popular diets were included in the study. 

These were pescatarian (fish on top of a vegetarian diet), vegetarian (no meat, fish or chicken), vegan (no foods derived from animals), omnivore (meat-eaters), paleo (fruits, vegetables, lean meats, fish, eggs, nuts and seeds), and keto (replacing carbohydrates with fat). 

According to Dr Diego Rose, senior author of the study, this is the first study to compare the carbon footprints of the keto diet and paleo diet to those of other eating plans.

The nutrition professor said: 'We suspected the negative climate impacts because they're meat-centric, but no one had really compared all these diets – as they are chosen by individuals, instead of prescribed by experts – to each other using a common framework.'

To assess the nutritional value of each diet, the researchers used the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, which is run by the national public health agency in the US. 

Individual health scores were assigned to the diets of 16,000 surveyed adults, and then averaged for each of the six diet categories to give their Healthy Eating Indexes.

The pescatarian diet was deemed the best (58.76/100), followed by the vegetarian diet (51.89/100) and vegan diet (51.65/100). 

Meanwhile, the omnivore diet scored 48.92/100, the paleo diet 45.03/100 and the keto diet brought up the rear with a score of 43.69.  

The carbon

read more from dailymail.....

PREV YouTube pranksters expose how social media giants are allowing adverts for ... trends now
NEXT Scientists find human brain has grown by whopping 7% since 1930... but there ... trends now