We have compared the effects of the Mediterranean diet with those of the so -called “planetary health diet”. There are surprises

Something everyday as eating can have a huge impact on our health, but you can also put a small grain of sand in environmental protection. The problem in these cases is that it is not always easy to demonstrate reliably the impacts of our diet on our health and the environment.

Some scientists have tried.

As beneficial as the Mediterranean diet. A group of researchers He has been studyingface to face, the health and environmental effects of two diets: the traditional and well -known Mediterranean diet, and the least known planetary health diet. According to this analysis, adhesion to both diets presents similar benefits for both our health and our environment.

Planetary health diet. The planetary health diet, or PHD for its acronym in English is a diet Proposal in 2019 By a group of experts from the Eat-Lancet commission, associated with the medical magazine The Lancet. It is a diet that prepares the consumption of plant foods and limits the consumption of meats and dairy products (although it does not eliminate them as in vegetarian and vegan diets).

“In 2019, the planetary health diet (PHD) was developed to optimize global dietary quality at the same time that the impacts of food production within sustainable borders were maintained,” indicated in a press release Mercedes Sotos Prieto, researcher at the Autonomous University of Madrid and co -author of the study. “However, evidence of how PHD is compared to the Mediterranean diet (…). We have evaluated the effects of both diets on mortality for any cause and the environmental impact on a large (sample) representative of the Spanish population.”

11,488 participants. The study was carried out from compiled data in the study of nutrition and cardiovascular risk in Spain (Enrica). The data of this cohort allowed to track 11,488 participants over 14.4 years.

To analyze the adhesion to each of the diets two indexes were used, the PHD Index and Medas Score. These measured the consumption of certain foods associated with each of the diets, the planetary health diet and the Mediterranean diet, respectively.

The environmental impact of these forms of food consumption was carried out through the Sharp-ID tool (Sharp-Indicors Database), which allows estimating greenhouse gas emissions based on land uses. Health impacts were measured through mortality, through the National Death Index. The analysis also included information about other variables to adjust the results.

Less mortality. The study results They indicated a positive effect of both diets about health. In the case of the PHD, the study showed a decrease of approximately 22% in the risk of death during the period studied when comparing the group with greater adhesion to this diet with respect to the group with less adhesion.

In the case of the Mediterranean diet, the comparison between the mortalities of the groups with the greatest and lesser adhesion was approximately 21%. A very similar positive effect, so much that the difference is statistically irrelevant.

More than health. The second point of interest is that of the environmental impact of diets, calculated in this case based on emissions that are estimated to the different options. In the case of the PHD diet, the estimate calculates emissions equivalent to 4.15 kg of CO₂ a day, with a soil use estimated at 5.54 m² a day.

The Mediterranean diet, on the other hand, is calculated emissions equivalent to 4.36 kg of CO₂ per day, with a land use estimated at 5.43 m² a day. Results, again, very similar.

The details of the study have not yet been published in a scientific journal, but were presented at the beginning of the month at the Congress of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC).

An open debate. The PHD diet is a relatively recent formula, proposed less than a decade ago. In his presentation it was received with a certain degree of skepticismsomething logical if we take into account the difficulties facing science when analyzing something as complex as nutrition and the effects of food on our body and our health.

That is why studies are required to test the Initial results. Experiments such as this incline the balance in favor of this type of diets but when addressing this type of issues all additional information can be useful.

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Image | Louis Hansel