“Dietary shifts don’t have to be as draconian as many people think to have a meaningful impact on the environment,” one of the study’s authors, Dr Keeve Nachman, told The Telegraph. “Our study found that in the UK, switching to a vegetarian diet that includes eggs and dairy is actually less helpful for reducing greenhouse gas emissions than a diet that includes meat, dairy and eggs for one of three meals, and is exclusively plant-based for the other two meals.”
The new study says that cutting down on dairy products, increasing vegetable intake and eating meat once a day would be better for the environment than a strictly vegetarian diet.
The study continued that cattle, sheep and goat meat are the most greenhouse gas intensive foods, but dairy is not far behind.
Nachman also agrees with the current consensus of the need to cut beef to reduce greenhouse gases and that a switch to a strictly vegan diet would be better for the environment, the article said. Alternatively, Nachman mentions, switching to insect-based diets would also be beneficial for the environment.
“There are many parts of the world where eating insects isn’t an outlandish idea,” Nachman said. “Based on our data, there may be great value in exploring ways to normalise this in other parts of the world.”
can we get a link to the study?
If you would like further information, there is a link to the university responsible for the research.
Hi, after some searching to find it for myself, I believe this is the study that the article is referring to:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959378018306101
Or, if you prefer, a citation:
Kim BF, Santo RE, Scatterday AP, Fry JP, Synk CM, Cebron SR, Mekonnen MM, Hoekstra AY, de Pee S, Bloem MW, Neff RA, Nachman KE. 2019. Country-specific dietary shifts to mitigate climate and water crises. Global Environmental Change:101926.
Hope this helps! 🙂