Dietary greenhouse gas emissions and the risk of coronary heart disease and type 2 diabetes
Authors: Carlos A González, Catalina Bonet, Jose María Huerta, Pilar Amiano, Marta G Rivera Ferrer
Journal: The Lancet Planetary Health (2022)

In a recent Article published in The Lancet Planetary Health, Jessica Laine and colleagues1Laine JE Huybrechts I Gunter MJ et al.Co-benefits from sustainable dietary shifts for population and environmental health: an assessment from a large European cohort study.Lancet Planet Health. 2021; 5: e786-e796Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (7) Google Scholar emphasised the relevance of the inter-relationship between dietary habits, human health, and planetary health. They showed an association of dietary greenhouse gas emissions with all-cause mortality and several forms of cause-specific mortality, and the incidence of cancer, based on a large cohort of almost half a million people from nine countries included in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study. In our study,2González CA Bonet C de Pablo M et al.Greenhouse gases emissions from the diet and risk of death and chronic diseases in the EPIC-Spain cohort.Eur J Public Health. 2021; 31: 130-135Crossref PubMed Scopus (4) Google Scholar based on the Spanish EPIC cohort and comprising 40 621 participants, we found a similar association between dietary greenhouse gas emissions and total mortality, and a slightly lower association with overall cancer incidence. However, we expanded the assessment of the potential associations between dietary greenhouse gas emissions and human health, including the risk of coronary heart disease and type 2 diabetes—two of the most common causes of death. Comparing the highest versus lowest tertile of dietary greenhouse gas emissions, we found a significant association with the risk of coronary heart disease (hazard ratio [HR] 1·26; 95% CI 1·08–1·48), based on 1007 confirmed and validated incident cases identified during a mean follow-up of 10·4 years. We also found a significant association between dietary greenhouse gas emissions and the risk of type 2 diabetes, based on 2025 incident confirmed cases during 12·1 years of follow-up (HR 1·24; 95% CI 1·11–1·38). It is worth noting that our assessment of dietary greenhouse gas emissions was based on a different database,3Clune S Crossin E Verghese K Systematic review of greenhouse gas emissions for different fresh food categories.J Clean Prod. 2017; 140: 766-783Crossref Scopus (389) Google Scholar and our results need to be replicated in other cohort studies. However, taken in the context of the referred Article,1Laine JE Huybrechts I Gunter MJ et al.Co-benefits from sustainable dietary shifts for population and environmental health: an assessment from a large European cohort study.Lancet Planet Health. 2021; 5: e786-e796Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (7) Google Scholar these findings strongly point to a substantial impact of a sustainable diet on the most important chronic diseases, apart from cancer. Therefore, we support the claim by Laine and colleagues that reducing dietary greenhouse gas emissions not only mitigates climate change but also improves the health of the population. We declare no competing interests. Co-benefits from sustainable dietary shifts for population and environmental health: an assessment from a large European cohort studyOur results indicate that shifts towards universally sustainable diets could lead to co-benefits, such as minimising diet-related greenhouse gas emissions and land use, reducing the environmental footprint, aiding in climate change mitigation, and improving population health. Full-Text PDF Open Access