Mediterranean diets: are they environmentally responsible?
Abstract
Dietary recommendations made to promote health seldom, if ever, take account of environmental implications of producing recommended foods. This paper considers several aspects of the traditional Mediterranean diet in relation to global sustainability. Plant-centered diets, such as those consumed around the Mediterranean Sea during the 1950s and 1960s, would be environmentally beneficial because they imply need for a much smaller population of domestic animals and, consequently, lowered demand on soil, water, and energy resources. Although fish consumption is high in some Mediterranean diets, fish should not be used to replace animal flesh because all of the world's major fisheries are currently overexploited. As for the appropriateness of Mediterranean fresh fruit and vegetables (which would need to be imported into non-Mediterranean regions), locally producible substitutes should be used wherever possible to reduce the environmental costs of transporting food great distances. Research is needed to examine the environmental consequences of certain exports such as olive oil.
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Consumption of wild marine fish is severely limited because most ocean fish populations are exploited and cannot sustain current catch levels.
“Consumption of wild marine fish is severely limited, however, because most ocean fish populations are exploited and unable to yield sustainable catches at current levels (6)(7)(8).”
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- Authors
- Gussow, J.
- Venue
- The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 1995-06
- Volume
- 61
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 1383S-1389S
- ISSN
- 0002-9165 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2180463125
- Cited by
- 53
- References
- 27
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 3 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 1 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 1 · 2014: 3 · 2013: 2
- FWCI
- 0.35
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Agriculture Sustainability and Environmental Impact
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Nutritional Studies and Diet
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Environmental Engineering › Environmental Impact and Sustainability
- Keywords
- Mediterranean diet, environmental sustainability, dietary recommendations, food production, overfishing, fish consumption, food transport, food imports, olive oil exports, animal agriculture, local food production
- MeSH terms
- Olive Oil, Diet, Dietary Fats, Unsaturated, Environmental Health, Europe, Fruit, Humans, Plant Oils, Vegetables, Seafood
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