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Meeting EAT-Lancet Food Consumption, Nutritional, and Environmental Health Standards: A U.S. Case Study across Racial and Ethnic Subgroups.

Joe F BozemanSparkle SpringfieldThomas L Theis
Published in: Environmental justice (Print) (2020)
In 2019, The EAT-Lancet Commission developed criteria to assist policymakers and health care systems worldwide in sustaining natural resources to feed a forecasted 10 billion people through the year 2050. Although American dietary habits and underlying food production practices have a disproportionately negative impact on land, greenhouse gas (GHG), and water resources, there is limited information on how this population can meet the EAT-Lancet criteria. To address this, we measured adherence to an adapted version of the EAT-Lancet diet score criteria in United States (U.S.) populations overall and across racial/ethnic subgroups (i.e., black, Latinx, and white). In addition, we assessed the benefits of adherence in terms of saved environmental resources (i.e., land, GHG, and water). By performing these objectives, we provide vital information for the development of effective intervention strategies in the U.S. with enough refinement to address the human health and environmental implications of marginalized populations. Our results demonstrate that, on average, Americans do not meet EAT-Lancet criteria overall or across racial/ethnic subgroups. Shifting dietary intakes to meet the criteria could reduce environmental degradation between 28% and 38%. Furthermore, these methods can be adapted to other nations for the development of meaningful strategies that address the food, energy, and water challenges of our time.
Keyphrases
  • human health
  • climate change
  • risk assessment
  • healthcare
  • randomized controlled trial
  • health information
  • primary care
  • public health
  • type diabetes
  • mental health
  • metabolic syndrome
  • insulin resistance