Evaluation of the Dietary Carbon Footprint as a Sustainable Diet Marker in Adults: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

This study planned to investigate the characteristics of the diet and its contribution to the carbon footprint-the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Data were collected through face-to-face interview methods via a questionnaire including socio-demographic information, anthropometric measurements, the Three-Factor Eating Questionarre21, and 24-hour recall food consumption record. This cross-sectional study was conducted with 619 adults (M = 266 (43.0%), F = 353 (%57.0)) aged 18-64 years. The carbon footprint value of the overall diet was 3.84 +/- 0.1 kg CO2-eq 2-eq per person per day and 2.10 +/- 1.2 kg CO2-eq 2-eq per 1,000 kcal per day. Meat and dairy groups are the major contributors to carbon footprint (34.8%, and 18.9%, respectively). Uncontrolled eating scores were higher in the highest quantile (Q5) group for the carbon footprint (CO2-eq 2-eq kg-1 ) group (p p = 0.048), and according to the multiple regression model, uncontrolled eating scores significantly affecting the increase of carbon footprint (ss = 0.122, p = 0.006). While high carbon footprint groups have higher dietary protein intake (43.30 +/- 0.8 g per day, 29.0 +/- 0.7 g per day, respectively, p = 0.048), low carbon footprint groups have higher carbohydrate intake (103.75 +/- 3.7 g per day, 85.86 +/- 3.4 g per day, respectively, p <0.001). The results of this study provide important knowledge on the contribution of diet patterns and eating behaviour to the carbon footprint and draw attention to the importance of developing sustainable nutrition recommendations in parallel with healthy nutrition recommendations.