Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2020 Mar:24:100342.
doi: 10.1016/j.gfs.2019.100342.

Healthy low nitrogen footprint diets

João Costa Leite  1   2   3 , Sandra Caldeira  3 , Bernhard Watzl  4 , Jan Wollgast  3
Affiliations
Review

Healthy low nitrogen footprint diets

João Costa Leite et al. Glob Food Sec. 2020 Mar.

Abstract

Shifting towards more plant-based diets can reduce the environmental burden of the food system including its impact on the nitrogen cycle. However, such changes need to be compatible with healthy nutrition. To discuss the health aspects of plant-based dietary patterns, this literature review analyses vegetarian and vegan diets and concludes that well-planned, balanced vegetarian diets are nutritious and healthy. Food-based dietary guidelines (FBDGs) that include environmental aspects and practical advice to individuals and society are needed as crucial instruments to further promote public health within the planetary boundaries. FBDGs need to be better exploited to serve as a basis to policies that promote diets supporting the UN sustainable development goals.

Keywords: Food systems; Food-based dietary guidelines; Health; Nitrogen footprint; Vegetarian diet.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

None.

Figures

Image 1
Graphical abstract
Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Food based dietary guidelines inclusive of health and sustainability aspects (FBDG+) can influence food consumption. Large blue arrows: FBDG + guide individuals and policies towards consuming and promoting healthy sustainable diets. Red arrows: Smart policies, such as incentives, food standards, legislation or fiscal measures promote healthy low footprint consumer food preferences directly (solid line) or indirectly (dotted line). Green arrows: consumer demand feedbacks to food production, distribution, and catering (dotted line) and peer-influence also nudges other consumers (solid lines) towards healthy low footprint diets. Dotted blue arrows: Food system changes lead to increased availability, ubiquity, and attractiveness of healthy low footprint choices. (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the Web version of this article.)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Agnoli C., Baroni L., Bertini I., Ciappellano S., Fabbri A., Papa M., Pellegrini N., Sbarbati R., Scarino M.L., Siani V., Sieri S. Position paper on vegetarian diets from the working group of the Italian Society of Human Nutrition. Nutr. Metab. Cardiovasc. Dis. 2017;27(12):1037–1052. - PubMed
    1. Alles B., Baudry J., Mejean C., Touvier M., Peneau S., Hercberg S., Kesse-Guyot E. Comparison of sociodemographic and nutritional characteristics between self-reported vegetarians, vegans, and meat-eaters from the NutriNet-Sante study. Nutrients. 2017;9(9) - PMC - PubMed
    1. American Dietetic Association and Dietitians of Canada Position of the American dietetic association and Dietitians of Canada: vegetarian diets. J. Acad. Nutr. Diet. 2003;103(6):748. - PubMed
    1. Amit M.S., Paediatric Canadian, Community Paediatrics C. Vegetarian diets in children and adolescents. Paediatr. Child Health. 2010;15(5):303–314. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Barnard N.D., Levin S.M., Yokoyama Y. A systematic review and meta-analysis of changes in body weight in clinical trials of vegetarian diets. J. Acad. Nutr. Diet. 2015;115(6):954–969. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources