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Evaluating the Sustainability of Vegetarian, Vegan, and New Nordic Diets in Sweden Combining Environmental and Nutritional Aspects

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Evaluating the Sustainability of Vegetarian, Vegan, and New Nordic Diets in Sweden Combining Environmental and Nutritional Aspects 1 | EXAMENSARBETE INOM ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING, AVANCERAD NIVÅ, 30 HP STOCKHOLM, SVERIGE 2019 Evaluating the sustainability of vegetarian, vegan, and New Nordic diets in Sweden combining environmental and nutritional aspects MARTIN JANOCO KTH SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE AND THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT 2 | TRITA TRITA-ABE-MBT-19671 www.kth.se 3 | Evaluating the sustainability of vegetarian, vegan, and New Nordic diet in Sweden: combining environmental and nutritional aspects Utvärderinga av hållbarheten hos vegetarisk, vegansk och ny nordisk diet i Sverige: combination av miljö- och näringsaspekter Keywords: environment, sustainability, sustainable diet, life cycle assessment Degree project course: Strategies for sustainable development, Second Cycle AL250X, 30 credits Author: Martin Janoco Supervisor: Miguel Mendonca Reis Brandao Examiner: Göran Finnveden Department of Sustainable Development, Environmental Science and Engineering School of Architecture and the Built Environment KTH Royal Institute of Technology 4 | Abstract in English Changing the western dietary pattern toward a healthier diet with reduced intake of animal foods is a commonly recognized strategy in the ongoing effort for global sustainability. Since animal foods tend to have a high environmental impact, vegetarian diets are often suggested as an ecological alternative to the typical Western diet. The low sum of environmental impacts, however, does not on its own necessarily translate to a sustainable diet. Sustainability encompasses many other aspects, such as nutritional adequacy, affordability, and cultural acceptability. As regards the elimination of animal foods in particular, health-related aspects ought to be considered since some nutrients are supplied primarily via animal products which may lead to nutritional deficiencies and potential negative health effects in the long term. Furthermore, since the main function of diets is the supply of (adequate) nutrition, the environmental impacts of diets ought to be compared in light of their nutritional quality. In this project the environmental impact on climate change, land use, blue water footprint, and biodiversity damage potential of four diets is assessed, along with their nutritional adequacy and financial cost. The four assessed diets are: an average Swedish diet, New Nordic diet, vegetarian diet, and vegan diet. The environmental impacts are normalized with a nutritient-rich diet score (NRD) to compare the impacts of diets in relation to their nutritional quality. The vegan diet, followed by the vegetarian diet, resulted in the lowest overall impact with the exception of blue water footprint, however, the normalization with NRD score lessened the relative differences between the New Nordic, vegetarian, and vegan diet. Furthermore, the nutritional assessment showed a potentially unsustainable intake of vitamin D in vegetarians and vit. D and B12 in vegans, which is not properly reflected in the nutritional quality score. Nevertheless, the use of the nutritional score is fairly simple and provides opportunity for linking the health-related aspect of diets to their environmental impact. Joined with indicators on other sustainability aspects, such as the economic, this method can offer a more holistic picture of the sustainability of diets. Keywords environment, sustainability, sustainable diet, life cycle assessment 5 | Abstract in Swedish Att ändra det västerländska kostmönstret mot en hälsosammare diet med minskat intag av animaliska livsmedel är en allmänt erkänd strategi i den pågående ansträngningen för global hållbarhet. Eftersom djurfoder tenderar att ha stor miljöpåverkan, är vegetariska dieter ofta föreslagna som ett ekologiskt alternativ till den typiska västerländska kosten. Den låga summan av miljöpåverkan innebär emellertid inte nödvändigtvis att det är en hållbar diet. Hållbarhet omfattar många andra aspekter, såsom näringskrav, överkomlighet och kulturell acceptans. När det gäller avskaffandet av animaliska livsmedel bör i synnerhet hälsorelaterade aspekter beaktas eftersom vissa näringsämnen levereras primärt via animaliska produkter vilket kan leda till näringsbrist och potentiellt negativa hälsoeffekter på lång sikt. Eftersom dietens huvudsakliga funktion är tillförseln av (tillräcklig) näring, borde miljöpåverkan av dieter jämföras med hänsyn till deras näringskvalitet. I detta projekt bedöms miljöpåverkan med avseende på klimatförändringar, markanvändning, blått blåvattenavtryck och biologisk mångfaldskador för fyra dieter tillsammans med deras näringsbehov och ekonomiska kostnader. De fyra bedömda kostvanorna är: en genomsnittlig svensk diet, ny nordisk kost, vegetarisk kost och vegansk kost. Miljöpåverkan normaliseras med ett näringsrikt diettvärde (NRD) för att jämföra effekterna av dieter i förhållande till deras näringskvalitet. Vegansk diet, följt av vegetarisk kost, resulterade i den lägsta övergripande effekten, med undantag för blå vattenavtryck, men normaliseringen med NRD-poäng minskade de relativa skillnaderna mellan den nya nordiska, vegetariska och veganska dieterna. Vidare visade näringsvärderingen ett potentiellt ohållbart intag av vitamin D för vegetarianer och vit. D och B12 för veganer, vilket inte korrekt återspeglas I det näringsmässiga kvalitetsresultatet. Ändå är användningen av näringsvärdet ganska enkelt och ger möjlighet att koppla den hälsorelaterade aspekten av dieter till deras miljöpåverkan. Genom att kombinera indikatorer för andra hållbarhetsaspekter, såsom den ekonomiska, kan denna metod erbjuda en mer holistisk bild av dieters hållbarhet. 6 | Acknowledgements I would like to thank my supervisor, Miguel Brandão, for his help and advice in the process of carrying out this degree project. I would also like to thank my family for their patient support in my studies. 7 | Table of Contents Introduction ................................................................................................................... 11 Aims and objectives ...................................................................................................... 13 Methods ........................................................................................................................ 14 1.1 Assessing sustainability of diets ................................................................... 14 1.2 Modelling dietary scenarios ......................................................................... 14 1.2.1 Food categories ...................................................................................... 15 1.2.2 Average Swedish diet ............................................................................. 15 1.2.3 New Nordic diet ..................................................................................... 17 1.2.4 Vegetarian and vegan diets ................................................................... 18 1.2.5 Final composition of the assessed diets ............................................... 20 1.3 Environmental assessment .......................................................................... 21 1.3.1 Simplified LCA method ........................................................................ 22 1.3.2 Functional unit and system boundary ................................................. 23 1.3.3 Impact categories ................................................................................. 23 1.3.4 Data for life cycle inventory ................................................................. 24 1.3.5 Climate change impact from transportation ....................................... 26 1.3.6 Climate change impact from cooking .................................................. 28 1.3.7 Sustainable boundaries for the impacts ............................................... 28 1.3.8 Adjusting food intake for cooking losses and food waste .................... 29 1.4 Nutritional assessment ................................................................................ 31 1.4.1 Incorporating nutrition into LCA .......................................................... 31 1.4.2 Combined environmental and nutritional assessment ........................33 1.4.3 Recommended intake of nutrients ....................................................... 34 1.4.4 Normalization of the environmental impacts ....................................... 35 1.5 Assessment of financial cost ........................................................................ 35 1.6 Limitations and uncertainties ..................................................................... 36 Results ........................................................................................................................... 37 1.7 Environmental impact ................................................................................. 37 1.7.1 Climate change ..................................................................................... 38 1.7.2 Land use ................................................................................................ 38 1.7.3 Blue water footprint ............................................................................. 38 1.7.4 Biodiversity damage potential ............................................................. 39 1.7.5 Contribution of food groups to the total impacts ................................ 39 1.8 Nutritional adequacy .................................................................................... 41 8 | 1.9 Environmental impacts normalized with NRD score ................................. 43 1.10 Financial cost ..............................................................................................
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