Assessing the Environmental and Nutritional Impact of Transitioning to Plant-Based Dietary Patterns in Middle Income Countries
Keywords:
Plant-based diets, environmental sustainability, nutrition transition, middle-income countries, dietary patternsAbstract
The shift toward plant-based diets has garnered considerable attention as a strategy to mitigate environmental degradation and improve public health outcomes. This paper evaluates the environmental footprints and nutritional consequences of adopting plant-centric dietary patterns in middle-income nations. A synthesis of prior research highlights both opportunities and challenges, including cultural preferences, nutritional adequacy, and socioeconomic disparities. Graphical and tabular data illustrate the relative reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and improvements in nutrient intake associated with plant-based transitions. The findings underscore the necessity for policies tailored to regional contexts to maximize the sustainability and health benefits of dietary transformations.
References
[1] Aleksandrowicz, L., Green, R., Joy, E. J., Smith, P., & Haines, A. "The Impacts of Dietary Change on Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Land Use, Water Use, and Health: A Systematic Review." Environmental Health Perspectives, vol. 124, no. 3, 2016, pp. 361–370.
[2] FAO. "The State of Food and Agriculture: Leveraging Food Systems for Inclusive Rural Transformation." Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2017.
[3] Thilakar, S.J. (2024). Genomics and transcriptomics in mosquito control. International Journal of Advanced Research in Bio-Technology (IJARB), 5(1), 1–9.
[4] Godfray, H. C. J., Aveyard, P., Garnett, T., Hall, J. W., Key, T. J., Lorimer, J., Pierrehumbert, R. T., Scarborough, P., Springmann, M., & Jebb, S. A. "Meat Consumption, Health, and the Environment." Science, vol. 361, no. 6399, 2018, pp. 1–9.
[5] Hallström, E., Carlsson-Kanyama, A., & Börjesson, P. "Environmental Impact of Dietary Change: A Systematic Review." Journal of Cleaner Production, vol. 91, 2015, pp. 1–11.
[6] Poore, J., & Nemecek, T. "Reducing Food's Environmental Impacts Through Producers and Consumers." Science, vol. 360, no. 6392, 2018, pp. 987–992.
[7] Josmin Laali Nisha LL (2025) Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) in Biology. Int J Plant Biotechnol 2(1):1–10.
[8] Smith, P., Bustamante, M., Ahammad, H., Clark, H., Dong, H., Elsiddig, E. A., Haberl, H., Harper, R., House, J., & Jafari, M. "Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Use (AFOLU)." Climate Change 2014: Mitigation of Climate Change, Cambridge University Press, 2019.
[9] Springmann, M., Godfray, H. C. J., Rayner, M., & Scarborough, P. "Analysis and Valuation of the Health and Climate Change Cobenefits of Dietary Change." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 113, no. 15, 2016, pp. 4146–4151.
[10] Stehfest, E., Bouwman, L., van Vuuren, D. P., den Elzen, M. G. J., Eickhout, B., & Kabat, P. "Climate Benefits of Changing Diet." Climatic Change, vol. 95, no. 1-2, 2009, pp. 83–102.
[11] Josmin Laali Nisha, L.L. (2023). Forecasting Protein Structures and Functional Roles. International Journal of Advanced Research in Bio-Technology (IJARB), 4(1), 1–6.
[12] Tilman, D., & Clark, M. "Global Diets Link Environmental Sustainability and Human Health." Nature, vol. 515, no. 7528, 2014, pp. 518–522.
[13] Willett, W., Rockström, J., Loken, B., Springmann, M., Lang, T., Vermeulen, S., Garnett, T., Tilman, D., DeClerck, F., & Wood, A. "Food in the Anthropocene: The EAT–Lancet Commission on Healthy Diets from Sustainable Food Systems." The Lancet, vol. 393, no. 10170, 2019, pp. 447–492.
[14] Popp, A., Lotze-Campen, H., & Bodirsky, B. "Food Consumption, Diet Shifts, and Associated Non-CO₂ Greenhouse Gases from Agricultural Production." Global Environmental Change, vol. 20, no. 3, 2010, pp. 451–462.
[15] Vermeulen, S. J., Campbell, B. M., & Ingram, J. S. "Climate Change and Food Systems." Annual Review of Environment and Resources, vol. 37, 2012, pp. 195–222.
[16] Westhoek, H., Lesschen, J. P., Rood, T., Wagner, S., De Marco, A., Murphy-Bokern, D., Leip, A., van Grinsven, H., Sutton, M. A., & Oenema, O. "Food Choices, Health and Environment: Effects of Cutting Europe's Meat and Dairy Intake." Global Environmental Change, vol. 26, 2014, pp. 196–205.
[17] Josmin Laali Nisha, L.L. (2024). Examining Gene Expression in Swietenia mahagoni under Abiotic Stress: Plant’s Molecular Response to Drought, Salinity, or Temperature Stress for Climate-Resilient Forestry. International Journal of Synthetic Biology (IJSBIO), 1(1), 1–11.
[18] Sabaté, J., & Soret, S. "Sustainability of Plant-Based Diets: Back to the Future." The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, vol. 100, no. Supplement_1, 2014, pp. 476S–482S.
[19] Bajželj, B., Richards, K. S., Allwood, J. M., Smith, P., Dennis, J. S., Curmi, E., & Gilligan, C. A. "The Importance of Food Demand Management for Climate Mitigation." Nature Climate Change, vol. 4, no. 10, 2014, pp. 924–929.
