This document summarizes a presentation on the implications of achieving healthy and environmentally sustainable diets for future land use demands in Scotland. It discusses how diets high in meat and processed foods are both unhealthy and unsustainable due to their environmental impacts. Reducing meat consumption could benefit both health and sustainability. However, compensating for reduced meat with high sugar or high fruit and vegetable diets may not achieve the same benefits. Determining the optimal diet is complicated by different measures of sustainability, nutrition, and social factors. Future work is needed looking specifically at Scottish diets and land use under different dietary scenarios.

1. Implications of Achieving Healthy and
Environmentally Sustainable Diets on the
Demands for Future Land Use in Scotland
Henri de Ruiter
University of Aberdeen
James Hutton Institute

2. Healthy and Sustainable Diets
 In January, I stayed in a Scottish Bed & Breakfast
 This was my breakfast:

3. Healthy and Sustainable Diets
 When I first came here in October, I learned about more
notorious things:
 The deep-fried Mars bar
“We conclude that Scotland's deep-fried Mars bar is not just an
urban myth.”
“Encouragingly, we did also find some evidence of the
penetrance of the Mediterranean diet into Scotland…”
“… albeit in the form of deep-fried pizza.”

4. Healthy
(meets RNI)
Unsustainable
High GHGe/Land use
Sustainable
Low GHGe/Land use
Unhealthy
(doesn’t meet RNI)

5. Why research on diets?
 Two main global problems:
1. Obesity & Non-communicable diseases
2. Climate change
Food consumption lies at the basis of both problems
 24% of deaths in UK can be attributed to dietary risks
(GBD, 2010)
 Agriculture accounts for 15-30% of GHG emissions
(largest contributor)

6. Healthy
(meets RNI)
Unsustainable
High GHGe/Land use
Sustainable
Low GHGe/Land use
Unhealthy
(doesn’t meet RNI)

7. Meat reduction – Environmental impacts
OMNIVOROUS
VEGETARIAN
VEGAN
Baroni et al. (2007) European Journal of Clinical Nutrition

8. Meat reduction – Health implications
 Reduced meat consumption may benefit the environment
 Other research: also health benefits (processed meat)
 3.2% risk reduction for diabetes in women
 12.2% risk reduction for colorectal cancer in men
Aston et al. (2012) BMJ Open

9. A win – win situation?
However:
 Animal protein is ‘the best protein you can get’
 ‘Bioavailability’ of plant-based protein is lower
 It is more difficult to get all your essential (micro)
nutrients from plant-based diets

10. Healthy
(meets RNI)
Vegetarian diet
Meat reduction
Vegan diet
Unsustainable
High GHGe/Land use
Sustainable
Low GHGe/Land use
Unhealthy
(doesn’t meet RNI)

11. It gets more complicated
 Most researchers agree: a reduced meat consumption is
beneficial
 But environmental impact depends on compensation of
meat
 Vieux et al. (2013): People consuming a healthy diet have
higher associated GHG emissions
 Fruits and vegetables: low GHG emissions per gram
 Expressed per kcal in the same order as animal products!

12. Healthy
(meets RNI)
Vegetarian diet
High in veg/fruit
Vegetarian diet
Meat reduction
Vegan diet
Unsustainable
High GHGe/Land use
Sustainable
Low GHGe/Land use
Vegetarian diet
High in sugar
Unhealthy
(doesn’t meet RNI)

13. Let’s add more complexity
 Which environmental indicator do we use?
 GHG emissions, land use, water use, phosphorus use, etc.
 Current projects focuses on land use
 38% of total land is already in use for the production of
food and this will increase (Foley, 2011)
 Global dietary change will contribute to the increasing
demand for land
 Cropland vs. grassland

14. DIETARY CHANGE SCENARIOS
Fig. 7 Extent of global agricultural land in scenarios for 2030. Cropland area includes land used also for non-food crops (mainly cotton and
rubber), which FAO projects to be roughly 50 Mha in 2030. It also includes land use for cultivation of food-type cr...
Stefan Wirsenius , Christian Azar , Göran Berndes
How much land is needed for global food production under scenarios of dietary changes and livestock productivity increases in 2030?
Agricultural Systems Volume 103, Issue 9 2010 621 - 638

15. Main challenge
 No uniform measure of dietary/nutritional quality
 No uniform measure of sustainability
 No uniform way of coupling nutritional quality with life cycle
assessments of food products
 Add to this the social dimensions food security and access,
animal welfare, consumer acceptance…
 Quest for a healthy food system truly is a ‘wicked’
problem

16. Future directions
 Start with food consumption of Scotland
 Combine this with land requirements for food items
(either local or FAO)
 Based on the preliminary results, I’ll choose how to
continue

17. Future directions
 What I’d like to investigate:
 We have to move away from traditional yields (ton/ha) to
nutritive value per hectare
 Is it worthwhile to explore a more spatial approach of
land use (impact is local, contrary to GHG emissions)
 Is it worthwhile to investigate different socioeconomic
groups? Cf. health inequalities vs. impact inequalities

18. Thanks for your attention!
h.deruiter@abdn.ac.uk
Henri_de_Ruiter
henrideruiter.com