The Environmental Impacts of Omnivorous, Vegetarian, and Vegan Children and Adolescents in Germany: Results of the VeChi Diet and VeChi Youth Studies
Background and objectives: There is a lack of data on the environmental impact of children’s and adolescents’ food consumption as most studies only consider adult dietary intake and, in addition, use hypothetical diets or focus on specific food products. Hence, our aim was to assess two indicators o...
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2024-05-01
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| author | Laureen Kuhl Vanessa Keller Stine Weder Ute Alexy Morwenna Fischer Markus Keller Andreas Michalsen Alfred Längler Andreas Sputtek Wencke Gwozdz |
| author_facet | Laureen Kuhl Vanessa Keller Stine Weder Ute Alexy Morwenna Fischer Markus Keller Andreas Michalsen Alfred Längler Andreas Sputtek Wencke Gwozdz |
| author_sort | Laureen Kuhl |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background and objectives: There is a lack of data on the environmental impact of children’s and adolescents’ food consumption as most studies only consider adult dietary intake and, in addition, use hypothetical diets or focus on specific food products. Hence, our aim was to assess two indicators of environmental impact of the total diet among omnivorous (OM), vegetarian (VG), and vegan (VN) children and adolescents from Germany. Methods: Greenhouse gas emissions (GHGE) and land use (LU) were calculated using 3-day weighed dietary records from 820 participants (1–18 years old) of the cross-sectional VeChi Diet Study (<i>n</i> = 430, 1–3 years of age, conducted 2016–2018), the VeChi Youth Study (n = 390, 6–18 years, 2017–2019), and the life cycle-analyses food-item (SHARP-Indicators) database. Group differences of indicators were analysed using analysis of covariance. Results: On average, food consumption of OM, VG, and VN diets caused GHGE of 2.6, 1.6, and 1.0 kg CO<sub>2</sub>eq/kg food and LU of 3.1, 2.0, and 1.6 m<sup>2</sup>·year/kg food, respectively. The median total daily GHGE and LU amounts differed significantly between diet groups (<i>p</i> < 0.001). Standardisation to energy intake per 1000 kcal (GHGE: (OM) 2.2, (VG) 1.3, (VN) 0.9 kg CO<sub>2</sub>eq/1000 kcal; LU: (OM) 2.5, (VG) 1.6, (VN) 1.3 m<sup>2</sup>·year/1000 kcal) confirmed these results. Discussion and conclusions: To the best of our knowledge, this is the first evaluation to show that even in children and adolescents, the GHGE and LU caused by an OM diet is considerably higher than the GHGE and LU on a VG or VN diet. In this way, plant-based diets performed better in terms of environmental sustainability. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-e3ef1e881be7426da255d7862c942dbd |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2504-3900 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-05-01 |
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| spelling | doaj-art-e3ef1e881be7426da255d7862c942dbd2025-08-20T02:10:24ZengMDPI AGProceedings2504-39002024-05-0191143010.3390/proceedings2023091430The Environmental Impacts of Omnivorous, Vegetarian, and Vegan Children and Adolescents in Germany: Results of the VeChi Diet and VeChi Youth StudiesLaureen Kuhl0Vanessa Keller1Stine Weder2Ute Alexy3Morwenna Fischer4Markus Keller5Andreas Michalsen6Alfred Längler7Andreas Sputtek8Wencke Gwozdz9Department of Consumer Research, Communication, and Food Sociology, University of Giessen, 35392 Giessen, GermanyResearch Institute for Plant-Based Nutrition, 35444 Biebertal, GermanyResearch Institute for Plant-Based Nutrition, 35444 Biebertal, GermanyInstitute of Nutrition and Food Sciences (IEL), Nutritional Epidemiology, University of Bonn, 44225 Dortmund, GermanyInstitute of Nutrition and Food Sciences (IEL), Nutritional Epidemiology, University of Bonn, 44225 Dortmund, GermanyResearch Institute for Plant-Based Nutrition, 35444 Biebertal, GermanyInstitute for Social Medicine, Epidemiology and Health Economics, Charité Universitätsmedizin, 14109 Berlin, GermanyGemeinschaftskrankenhaus Herdecke, 58313 Herdecke, GermanyMedical Laboratory Bremen GmbH, 28359 Bremen, GermanyDepartment of Consumer Research, Communication, and Food Sociology, University of Giessen, 35392 Giessen, GermanyBackground and objectives: There is a lack of data on the environmental impact of children’s and adolescents’ food consumption as most studies only consider adult dietary intake and, in addition, use hypothetical diets or focus on specific food products. Hence, our aim was to assess two indicators of environmental impact of the total diet among omnivorous (OM), vegetarian (VG), and vegan (VN) children and adolescents from Germany. Methods: Greenhouse gas emissions (GHGE) and land use (LU) were calculated using 3-day weighed dietary records from 820 participants (1–18 years old) of the cross-sectional VeChi Diet Study (<i>n</i> = 430, 1–3 years of age, conducted 2016–2018), the VeChi Youth Study (n = 390, 6–18 years, 2017–2019), and the life cycle-analyses food-item (SHARP-Indicators) database. Group differences of indicators were analysed using analysis of covariance. Results: On average, food consumption of OM, VG, and VN diets caused GHGE of 2.6, 1.6, and 1.0 kg CO<sub>2</sub>eq/kg food and LU of 3.1, 2.0, and 1.6 m<sup>2</sup>·year/kg food, respectively. The median total daily GHGE and LU amounts differed significantly between diet groups (<i>p</i> < 0.001). Standardisation to energy intake per 1000 kcal (GHGE: (OM) 2.2, (VG) 1.3, (VN) 0.9 kg CO<sub>2</sub>eq/1000 kcal; LU: (OM) 2.5, (VG) 1.6, (VN) 1.3 m<sup>2</sup>·year/1000 kcal) confirmed these results. Discussion and conclusions: To the best of our knowledge, this is the first evaluation to show that even in children and adolescents, the GHGE and LU caused by an OM diet is considerably higher than the GHGE and LU on a VG or VN diet. In this way, plant-based diets performed better in terms of environmental sustainability.https://www.mdpi.com/2504-3900/91/1/430environmental impactsgreenhouse gas emissionsland usesustainabilitychild nutritionvegan diet |
| spellingShingle | Laureen Kuhl Vanessa Keller Stine Weder Ute Alexy Morwenna Fischer Markus Keller Andreas Michalsen Alfred Längler Andreas Sputtek Wencke Gwozdz The Environmental Impacts of Omnivorous, Vegetarian, and Vegan Children and Adolescents in Germany: Results of the VeChi Diet and VeChi Youth Studies Proceedings environmental impacts greenhouse gas emissions land use sustainability child nutrition vegan diet |
| title | The Environmental Impacts of Omnivorous, Vegetarian, and Vegan Children and Adolescents in Germany: Results of the VeChi Diet and VeChi Youth Studies |
| title_full | The Environmental Impacts of Omnivorous, Vegetarian, and Vegan Children and Adolescents in Germany: Results of the VeChi Diet and VeChi Youth Studies |
| title_fullStr | The Environmental Impacts of Omnivorous, Vegetarian, and Vegan Children and Adolescents in Germany: Results of the VeChi Diet and VeChi Youth Studies |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Environmental Impacts of Omnivorous, Vegetarian, and Vegan Children and Adolescents in Germany: Results of the VeChi Diet and VeChi Youth Studies |
| title_short | The Environmental Impacts of Omnivorous, Vegetarian, and Vegan Children and Adolescents in Germany: Results of the VeChi Diet and VeChi Youth Studies |
| title_sort | environmental impacts of omnivorous vegetarian and vegan children and adolescents in germany results of the vechi diet and vechi youth studies |
| topic | environmental impacts greenhouse gas emissions land use sustainability child nutrition vegan diet |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2504-3900/91/1/430 |
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