Adherence to dietary recommendations for Swedish adults across categories of greenhouse gas emissions from food.

OBJECTIVE: To explore associations between diet-related greenhouse gas emissions (GHGE), nutrient intakes and adherence to the Nordic Nutrition Recommendations among Swedish adults. DESIGN: Diet was assessed by 4d food records in the Swedish National Dietary Survey. GHGE was estimated by linking all foods to carbon dioxide equivalents, using data from life cycle assessment studies. Participants were categorized into quartiles of energy-adjusted GHGE and differences between GHGE groups regarding nutrient intakes and adherence to nutrient recommendations were explored. SETTING: Sweden. SUBJECTS: Women (n 840) and men (n 627) aged 18-80 years. RESULTS: Differences in nutrient intakes and adherence to nutrient recommendations between GHGE groups were generally small. The dietary intake of participants with the lowest emissions was more in line with recommendations regarding protein, carbohydrates, dietary fibre and vitamin D, but further from recommendations regarding added sugar, compared with the highest GHGE group. The overall adherence to recommendations was found to be better among participants with lower emissions compared with higher emissions. Among women, 27 % in the lowest GHGE group adhered to at least twenty-three recommendations compared with only 12 % in the highest emission group. For men, the corresponding figures were 17 and 10 %, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The study compared nutrient intakes as well as adherence to dietary recommendations for diets with different levels of GHGE from a national dietary survey. We found that participants with low-emission diets, despite higher intake of added sugar, adhered to a larger number of dietary recommendations than those with high emissions.

Is a diet low in greenhouse gas emissions a nutritious diet? - Analyses of self-selected diets in the LifeGene study.

BACKGROUND: Climate change is an urgent global issue and the food sector is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions (GHGE). Here we study if a diet low in GHGE could be a nutritious diet compared to the Nordic Nutrition Recommendations (NNR). METHODS: The environmental impact of foods from Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) data was linked to a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) filled out by 5,364 participants in the Swedish LifeGene study. Thereafter, we calculated the daily emission of CO2 equivalents (CO2e) as well as the intake of selected nutrients associated with vegetables, fruits, meat and dairy products. The CO2e was divided into quartiles were quartile 1 corresponds to a diet generating the lowest CO2e, and quartile 4 corresponds to a diet with the highest CO2e. RESULTS: The overall diet-related emission was 4.7 kg CO2e/day and person, corresponding to 1.7 ton CO2e/year. In general, there were only small differences in nutrient intake between groups of varying levels of CO2e, regardless if the intake was analyzed as absolute intake, energy percent or as nutrient density. Moreover, adherence to NNR was high for the group with the lowest CO2e, except for saturated fat where the intake was higher than recommended for all CO2e groups. On the other hand, only the group with the lowest CO2e fulfilled recommended intake of fiber. However, none of the CO2e groups reached the recommended intake of folate and vitamin D. CONCLUSIONS: Here we show that a self-selected diet low in CO2e provides comparable intake of nutrients as a diet high in in CO2e.

Diet-related greenhouse gas emissions assessed by a food frequency questionnaire and validated using 7-day weighed food records.

BACKGROUND: The current food system generates about 25 % of total greenhouse gas emissions (GHGE), including deforestation, and thereby substantially contributes to the warming of the earth's surface. To understand the association between food and nutrient intake and GHGE, we therefore need valid methods to assess diet-related GHGE in observational studies. METHODS: Life cycle assessment (LCA) studies assess the environmental impact of different food items. We linked LCA data expressed as kg carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2e) per kg food product to data on food intake assessed by the food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) Meal-Q and validated it against a 7-day weighed food record (WFR). 166 male and female volunteers aged 20-63 years completed Meal-Q and the WFR, and their food intake was linked to LCA data. RESULTS: The mean GHGE assessed with Meal-Q was 3.76 kg CO2e per day and person, whereas it was 5.04 kg CO2e using the WFR. The energy-adjusted and deattenuated Pearson and Spearman correlation coefficients were 0.68 and 0.70, respectively. Moreover, compared to the WFR, Meal-Q provided a good ranking ability, with 90 % of the participants classified into the same or adjacent quartile according to their daily average CO2e. The Bland-Altman plot showed an acceptable level of agreement between the two methods and the reproducibility of Meal-Q was high. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first study validating the assessment of diet-related GHGE by a questionnaire. The results suggest that Meal-Q is a useful tool for studying the link between food habits and CO2e in future epidemiological studies.

Perceived reasons, incentives, and barriers to physical activity in Swedish elderly men.

BACKGROUND: Knowledge about factors influencing physical activity behavior is needed in order to tailor physical activity interventions to the individual. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to explore and describe the perceived reasons, barriers, and incentives to increased physical activity, as well as preferable activities, among elderly men in Sweden. METHODS: In total, 150 men aged 50-86 years responded to a Web-based questionnaire. Men who reported that they exercised sometimes or often received questions about reasons for physical activity (n=104), while men who reported that they never or seldom exercised received questions about barriers (n=46). RESULTS: The most frequent perceived reason for being physically active was health (82%), followed by enjoyment (45%), and a desire to lose/maintain weight (27%). Lack of interest/motivation was identified as the primary perceived barrier (17%). Incentives for increasing the level of activity included becoming more motivated and having a training partner. Walking was the most preferred activity. CONCLUSIONS: Enjoyment and maintaining a good health were important reasons for engaging in physical activity among Swedish elderly men.