Is the Mediterranean Diet Green Enough?

Dr. Hana Kahleaova argues that while the Mediterranean diet offers a healthy starting point, it should not be the final goal for sustainable eating patterns.

The Mediterranean diet is popular for its health benefits, but it may not be the most sustainable eating pattern. A new randomized trial shows that a fully plant-based diet reduces environmental impact far more than the Mediterranean approach. Dr. Hana Kahleova led a randomized crossover trial with 62 adults who had overweight. The participants followed a Mediterranean diet modeled on PREDIMED and a low-fat vegan diet for 16 weeks each, in random order. Each person served as their own comparison by eating both diets. The study measured actual food records and found the Mediterranean diet cut diet-related greenhouse gas emissions by about 20 percent. The vegan diet cut emissions by 57 percent, nearly three times as much. Cumulative energy demand fell 55 percent on the vegan diet while the Mediterranean diet showed little change. Per person, the vegan diet cut about 1,450 grams of carbon dioxide equivalent a day compared with about 450 grams on the Mediterranean diet. That gap adds up to more than 350 kilograms a year for one person. Removing meat accounted for most of the difference, followed by dairy and eggs. These findings suggest that the environmental advantage of the vegan approach is substantial and measurable. The research also notes that agriculture occupies about 44 percent of the world's habitable land and roughly 80 percent of that farmland goes to livestock. Meat

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