Healthy diets can create environmental trade-offs, depending on how diet quality is measured

Nutrition Journal

Table 1 Relationship between diet quality and agricultural resource use, by land use category

Land use category	Agricultural land	Fertilizer nutrients	Pesticides	Irrigation water
Total
HEI-2015	↓	–	↑	↑
AHEI-2010	↓	↓	–	–
Grains
HEI-2015	↓	↓	↓	↓
AHEI-2010	↓	↓	↓	↓
Fruits
HEI-2015	↑	↑	↑	↑
AHEI-2010	↑	↑	↑	↑
Vegetables
HEI-2015	↑	↑	↑	↑
AHEI-2010	↑	↑	↑	↑
Legumes
HEI-2015	↑	↑	↑	↑
AHEI-2010	↑	↑	↑	↑
Nuts
HEI-2015	↑	↑	↑	↑
AHEI-2010	↑	↑	↑	↑
Sweeteners
HEI-2015	↓	↓	↓	↓
AHEI-2010	↓	↓	↓	↓
Feed grains and oilseeds
HEI-2015	–	–	–	–
AHEI-2010	↓	↓	↓	↓
Hay
HEI-2015	↓	↓	↓	↓
AHEI-2010	↓	↓	↓	↓
Cropland pasture
HEI-2015	↓	–	–	↓
AHEI-2010	↓	–	–	↓
Permanent pasture
HEI-2015	↓	–	–	↓
AHEI-2010	↓	–	–	↓

Total Food Demand represents the sum of retail waste, consumer waste, inedible portions, and consumed food
HEI-2015, Healthy Eating Index-2015
AHEI-2010, Alternative Healthy Eating Index-2010
Upward arrow (↑) represents a statistically significant (P < 0.05) positive relationship between diet quality and agricultural resource use, downward arrow (↓) represents a statistically significant negative relationship, and horizontal line (−) represents a non-statistically significant relationship

ISSN: 1475-2891