Please join us for a group viewing of the webinar: "The Carbon Footprint of US Diets: New Research Linking Environmental Impacts to Food Choices and Diet Quality"
Wednesday, May 16, 2018 | 12:00 p.m.-1:30 p.m. CT / 1:00 a.m.-2:30 p.m. ET
Speakers: Diego Rose, PhD - Professor, Tulane University, School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine Martin Heller, PhD - Research Specialist, University of Michigan, School for Environment & Sustainability and the Center for Sustainable Systems
Group Viewing Location: Room 2212, 22nd Floor, Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, 1440 Canal Street, New Orleans LA 70112 This webinar is sponsored by the Tulane Center of Excellence in Maternal and Child Health and Tulane Prevention Research Center, in partnership with the American Public Health Association.
Webinar description:Agriculture is a major contributor to climate change, representing 30-40% of greenhouse gas emissions (GHGE) globally, and about 10% in the US. Individual dietary choices contribute to this problem by influencing what gets produced. Our research addresses the environmental impacts of individual food choices in the US and their implications for diet quality. We developed an approach to link environmental impacts of foods to 24-hour recall data on adult diets reported in the 2005-2010 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). We constructed a distribution of the carbon footprint of 1-day diets by ranking diets from low to high impact. Those in the top quintile (i.e. high impact diets) had a carbon footprint close to eight times that of the bottom quintile. Shifting the top quintile diets to the mean resulted in a significant overall reduction in national GHGE. After scaling for energy intake, we examined the differences in food and nutrient content, and overall diet quality of these high and low-impact diets. The bottom quintile (i.e. low impact) diets scored better on vitamin E, fiber and saturated fat, but not on calcium, vitamin D, and potassium. Overall diet quality as measured by the Healthy Eating Index was better in the low impact group. These results suggest that food patterns with lower carbon footprints have a better overall diet quality and are more nutritious on several key dimensions. Our analyses highlight the importance of utilizing individual dietary behaviors rather than just population means when considering diet shift scenarios and set the stage for further policy and scenario simulations aimed at aligning environmental and nutritional outcomes. Attendees will learn how to 1. Explain what is meant by a carbon footprint and how to calculate it for specific foods.2. Describe the relationship between individual dietary choices and GHGE from food in the US context. 3. Explain the link between the GHGE of a diet and its overall nutritional quality
If you aren't able to join us in person to view the webinar, you can watch on your own. Please follow the link:https://www.facebook.com/events/199841590742028/
