- By Helen Briggs
- Environment correspondent
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fried insects
Feeding on lab-grown meat or ground up insects could provide significant savings in carbon emissions and water, while freeing up land for nature.
This is according to a study calculating the environmental benefits of “greener” foods on our plates.
According to scientists, the pressures on the planet could be reduced by more than 80% with such foods, compared to the typical European diet.
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But it is not yet certain that consumers want to change their eating habits.
A multitude of unconventional foods are being developed with the aim of providing food rich in protein and other nutrients, while saving the planet by using less water and land.
Finnish scientists studied the nutritional profile of some of these products and looked at three measures of environmental pressure: water use, land use and potential carbon emissions.
They claim that replacing meat, dairy and other animal products with alternative foods could reduce these impacts by more than 80%, while providing a fuller range of essential nutrients than a purely vegetarian or vegan diet. .
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Algae growing in a laboratory in Singapore
But they also find that relatively low-tech solutions, like cutting back on meat and eating more vegetables, have a similar impact on the planet.
“By significantly reducing foods of animal origin and replacing them with new or future foods and plant protein substitutes, you can achieve significant reductions in environmental impacts in terms of global warming potential, land and water use,” says Rachel Mazac from the University of Helsinki.
But she added that there were “similar reductions in impacts in a vegan diet”. And in the case of a diet that reduces animal source foods by 75%, “you can get about a 75% reduction in all of your impacts.”
The research, published in Nature Food, focused on new foods that are set to become more prominent in our diets in the coming years, many of which rely on high-tech methods to “grow” animal and plant cells in bioreactors.
The new foods studied – some of which are still in the planning stage – are the following:
- Ground flies and crickets
- Egg white from chicken cells grown in the laboratory
- A type of seaweed called kelp
- Protein powders made from fungi or microbes
- Milk, meat and berries grown from cells
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Powdered kelp is present in a series of dietary supplements
Dr Asaf Tzachor of the University of Cambridge, who was not part of the research team, believes that while these results are “promising”, consumers’ reluctance to change their diet could “delay, or even prevent, this essential transition”.
Many studies have shown that adopting a plant-based diet has benefits for both health and the planet.
A recent report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recommends switching to a balanced diet rich in plants such as grains and vegetables, with moderate consumption of sustainably produced meat and dairy products. .