The paper "Healthy diets can create environmental trade-offs, depending on how diet quality is measured," by Zach Conrad, Nicole Tichenor Blackstone, and Eric D. Roy, explores the relationship between diet quality and environmental sustainability. Using data from NHANES (2005–2016) and food loss literature, the study evaluates how different measures of diet quality (HEI-2015 and AHEI-2010) impact agricultural resource use, food waste, and consumption. The results indicate that higher diet quality increases total food demand, retail losses, and consumer waste, but also reduces agricultural land use. The study underscores the complexity of balancing nutritional benefits with environmental impacts when developing sustainable dietary guidelines.
Source: Canva