{"id":146,"date":"2016-06-29T13:35:08","date_gmt":"2016-06-29T13:35:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.plantagbiosciences.org\/people\/sinead-moran\/?p=146"},"modified":"2016-06-29T18:02:41","modified_gmt":"2016-06-29T18:02:41","slug":"climate-conscious-dietary-guidelines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.plantagbiosciences.org\/people\/sinead-moran\/2016\/06\/29\/climate-conscious-dietary-guidelines\/","title":{"rendered":"Climate Conscious Dietary Guidelines:"},"content":{"rendered":"

China, an \u2018emerging\u2019 economy has taken a bold step in the right direction by updating its dietary guidelines to include issues of sustainability. As explained in pervious post\u2019s \u2013 what you eat matters and eating animal products carries a heavy environmental footprint with it [1, 2]. There are many ways to begin the transition to sustainable diets from education, advertising, choice editing by supermarkets to hard policy options like taxes on unsustainable foods and subsidies on alternatives [3, 4]. Another way is through national dietary guidelines.<\/p>\n

The Food Climate Research Network (FCRN) recently released a new paper looking at national dietary guidelines that factor in issues of sustainability [5]. They looked at what governments were taking progressive steps to introduce the concept of sustainable diets to citizens. They highlight 4 different countries with official national dietary guidelines that best take account of issues\u00a0around diet sustainability; Germany, Brazil, Sweden, Qatar. Although not specifically mentioning sustainable diets \u2013 each offer recommendations\u00a0that are concerned about\u00a0what products are good for health and in doing so have the added co-benefit of addressing environmental concerns.<\/p>\n

Only a month or so later after the FCRN publication\u00a0\u2013 China takes a big progressive step and releases its new dietary guidelines that, most importantly, recommend a range, in grams per week, to keep meat consumption to!<\/p>\n

\"China\"(See links: http:\/\/dg.en.cnsoc.org\/<\/u><\/a> \u00a0| https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2016\/jun\/20\/chinas-meat-consumption-climate-change?CMP=share_btn_fb<\/u><\/a>).<\/p>\n

The guidelines advise keeping meat consumption to between 40 to 70 grams a day, a slight reduction on pervious guidelines that suggested 50 to 100 grams. The 40 grams recommendation is in-line with the World Cancer Research Fund International which recommends a \u2018public health goal\u2019 of 300 grams per week (apx 43 grams a day) of red meat. (see link: http:\/\/www.wcrf.org\/int\/research-we-fund\/cancer-prevention-recommendations\/animal-foods<\/span><\/u><\/a>)<\/p>\n

If every person in China was to take these guidelines on board and transition to lower-meat diets \u2013 WildAid suggest it could reduce GLOBAL agricultural emission by 22% a much needed reduction\u00a0if we are to\u00a0meet the Paris Agreement 2c UNFCCC target. The report emphasizes the co-benefits for planet and human health and underlines the extensive impact demand-side measures can have on reducing emissions.<\/p>\n