Changes to meat and dairy consumption could help Scotland meet climate goals while improving health and nutrition, new research suggests.
A study from the University of Edinburgh found that using vegetables, beans and eggs instead of processed and unprocessed meat and dairy could deliver environmental and health benefits without increasing the overall cost of diets.
The study assessed 33 different ways of meeting the UK Climate Change Committee’s recommendations for sustainable diets.
The research examined the impact of dietary changes on greenhouse gas emissions, land and water use, nutrient intake, diet costs and health conditions including type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
The findings show that modest, realistic dietary changes, when scaled across a population, can deliver substantial benefits to people and the planet
Across all scenarios modelled in the study, reductions in meat and dairy consumption were associated with improvements in health outcomes and environmental indicators.
Dr Joe Kennedy, from the University of Edinburgh’s Division of Global Agriculture and Food Systems, said: “The findings show that modest, realistic dietary changes, when scaled across a population, can deliver substantial benefits to people and the planet.
“Making healthier, sustainable options more available and convenient will be key to enabling such change.”
Researchers found that small, gram-for-gram substitutions in everyday meals such as sandwiches and pasta dishes could make a difference and replacing some meat with a variety of alternative foods did not adversely affect nutrient intake.
The study suggests that targeting people who consume the largest amounts of processed and unprocessed red meat could deliver the greatest benefits.
Rather than reducing consumption evenly across the population, the study found that helping high consumers move towards lower intakes was predicted to prevent almost 60,000 cases of type 2 diabetes over a 10-year period while also achieving greater environmental gains.
The study was carried out in collaboration with colleagues from the University of Oxford and Food Standards Scotland.