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. 2019 Aug 9;11(8):1846.
doi: 10.3390/nu11081846.

Diet Quality and Water Scarcity: Evidence from a Large Australian Population Health Survey

Bradley G Ridoutt  1   2 , Danielle Baird  3 , Kimberley Anastasiou  3 , Gilly A Hendrie  3
Affiliations

Diet Quality and Water Scarcity: Evidence from a Large Australian Population Health Survey

Bradley G Ridoutt et al. Nutrients. .

Abstract

There is widespread interest in dietary strategies that lower environmental impacts. However, various forms of malnutrition are also widely prevalent. In a first study of its kind, we quantify the water-scarcity footprint and diet quality score of a large (>9000) population of self-selected adult daily diets. Here, we show that excessive consumption of discretionary foods-i.e., energy-dense and nutrient-poor foods high in saturated fat, added sugars and salt, and alcohol-contributes up to 36% of the water-scarcity impacts and is the primary factor differentiating healthier diets with lower water-scarcity footprint from poorer quality diets with higher water-scarcity footprint. For core food groups (fruits, vegetables, etc.), large differences in water-scarcity footprint existed between individual foods, making difficult the amendment of dietary guidelines for water-scarcity impact reduction. Very large reductions in dietary water-scarcity footprint are possible, but likely best achieved though technological change, product reformulation and procurement strategies in the agricultural and food industries.

Keywords: dietary guidelines; discretionary food; life cycle assessment; sustainable diet; sustainable food production; sustainable food systems; water footprint; water use.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The authors exercised freedom in designing the research, performing the analyses and making the decision to publish research results. Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA) partially funded this research. However, MLA did not have any role in design of the study, analysis of results or interpretation of results. The decision to publish was made prior to funding and before the results were known. MLA had no role in the preparation of the manuscript.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Water-scarcity footprint of Australian adult diets. Results are based on 9341 individual daily diets reported in the Australian Health Survey and are shown separately for females and males and for three age groups. Bars indicate the standard deviation. The dietary energy intake is also shown.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Water-scarcity footprint and diet quality score. Scatterplot showing diversity of individual adult daily diets reported in the Australian Health Survey (N = 9341). Healthier diets (with higher diet quality score) do not necessarily have a lower water-scarcity footprint (L-eq person−1 day−1).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Water-scarcity footprint intensity of major food groups. There exists large differences in water-scarcity footprint intensity between individual foods within some food groups, particularly fruits and grains. Shown here are average results for the higher diet quality and lower water-scarcity footprint (HDQ-LWF) dietary pattern and the lower diet quality and higher water-scarcity footprint (LDQ-HWF) dietary pattern.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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