A new study highlights notable regional differences in each country’s animal-sourced food requirements, depending on the climate, food security and affordability goals.
The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), used aggregated results through data from 153 countries examined from 2015 to 2022.
It explored country-level relationships among various metrics of the food supply, including: Socioeconomic context; Food security; Diet affordability, and agricultural greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
This was used to then characterise how optimal inclusion ranges for the category of foods vary with socioeconomic factors and food system goals.
The study notes that other research forms a correlation between reducing animal-sourced foods in order to reduce chronic health disorders and environmental impact.
However, the main results of this study showed an “uncertainty” in the understanding of country-level pressures which influences the optimal amount of inclusion for various food categories.
Some countries showed marked reductions in animal-sourced foods and increases in other regions, according to the results.
Animal-sourced food
The results of the study showed that relationships of food categories to goals consistently favoured dairy and egg products over meats.
This reflects “the lower environmental footprints of dairy and eggs compared with meat in traditional life cycle assessments” globally, according to the study.
The study also suggested that in order to minimise GHG emissions in agriculture overall, that reductions in foods sourced from animals would be optimal.
However, the study does note that culling dairy cows, male calves, and surplus female calves contribute to ruminant meat supplies, just as cull-laying hens contribute to non ruminant meat supplies.
It also showed that in some countries, animal-sourced foods are favoured, due to diet affordability.
The role of these foods in minimising deficiency-related diseases is supported by the concentration of required micronutrients in the foods, along with higher bioavailability of minerals and amino acids.