A Step toward a Sustainable Diet by Reducing Carbon Footprint: A Case Study in Iran

Introduction: Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have caused environmental effects. Food production is one of the sources of GHGs. This study aimed to suggest dietary scenarios for decreasing GHG emissions. Materials and Methods: GHG emissions in the target population of Urmia city, Northwest Iran, were investigated using a modeling approach. Three dietary scenarios were modeled and analyzed to evaluate and compare GHG emissions. The objectives and decision variables of the three scenarios included minimizing the carbon footprint and intake of food items, respectively. In the first scenario, the amount of energy intake was equal to baseline energy intake. The second scenario maintained the same energy intake constraint as the first scenario and made further alterations by considering the number of serving sizes suggested by the food pyramid for each food group. The third scenario was mostly based on this model by accounting for dietary reference intake for macronutrients, micronutrients, and energy. Results: There was about 72% and 55.67% reduction in carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2 eq) production in the first and second scenarios rather than the baseline diet of 4072.10 g CO2 eq, respectively. In the final scenario, the CO2 eq emissions were less than half of the baseline diet. Conclusion: The study showed that a healthy diet with a higher proportion of vegetables, fruit, legumes, nuts, and dairy, and a lower share of red and white meat, egg, grains, fat and oil, and sweets can reduce CO2 eq emissions.