Improvement of diet sustainability with increased level of organic food in the diet: findings from the BioNutriNet cohort

Julia Baudry (1) , Philippe Pointereau (2) , Louise Seconda (3, 1) , Rodolphe Vidal (4) , Bruno Taupier-Letage (4) , Brigitte Langevin (2) , Benjamin Allès (1) , Pilar Galan (1) , Serge Hercberg (5, 1) , Marie-Josèphe Amiot (6) , Christine Boizot-Szantai (7) , Oualid Hamza (7) , Jean Pierre J. P. Cravedi (8) , Laurent Debrauwer (8) , Louis-Georges Soler (7) , Denis Lairon (9) , Emmanuelle Kesse-Guyot (10)

1 CRESS - U1153 - Equipe 3: EREN- Equipe de Recherche en Epidémiologie Nutritionnelle
2 Solagro - Association Solagro
3 ADEME - Agence de l'Environnement et de la Maîtrise de l'Energie
4 ITAB - Institut Technique de l'Agriculture Biologique
5 Hôpital Avicenne [AP-HP]
6 UMR MOISA - Marchés, Organisations, Institutions et Stratégies d'Acteurs
7 ALISS - Alimentation et sciences sociales
8 ToxAlim - ToxAlim
9 C2VN - Centre recherche en CardioVasculaire et Nutrition = Center for CardioVascular and Nutrition research
10 EREN [CRESS - U1153 / UMR_A 1125] - Nutritional Epidemiology Research Team | Equipe de Recherche en Epidémiologie Nutritionnelle

Background: Organic food consumption has steadily increased over the past decade in westernized countries. Objective:We aimed, based on observational data, to compare some sustainability features of diets from consumers with varying levels of organic food. Methods: The diet sustainability among 29,210 participants of the NutriNet-Santé study was estimated using databases developed within the BioNutriNet project. Four dimensions (nutrition, environment, economy, and toxicology) of diet sustainability were assessed using: 1) nutritional indicators through dietary intakes and dietary scores, and BMI; 2) environmental indicators (greenhouse gas emissions, cumulative energy demand, and land occupation); 3) economic indicators via diet monetary costs; and 4) estimated daily food exposures to 15 pesticides. Adjusted means (95% CI) across weighted quintiles of organic food consumption in the diet were estimated via ANCOVA. Breakdown methods were used to disentangle the contribution of the production system (organic compared with conventional) from the dietary pattern in the variation of diet-related environmental impacts, monetary costs, and pesticide exposure, between the 2 extreme quintiles. Results: Higher organic food consumption was associated with higher plant-food and lower animal-food consumption, overall nutritional quality (higher dietary scores), and lower BMI. Dietrelated greenhouse-gas emissions, cumulative energy demand, and land occupation gradually decreased with increasing organic food consumption, whereas total diet monetary cost increased. Diet exposure to most pesticides decreased across quintiles. Conclusions: Diets of high organic food consumers were generally characterized by strong nutritional and environmental benefits. The latter were mostly driven by the low consumption of animal-based foods, whereas the production system was responsible for the higher diet monetary costs, and the overall reduced dietary pesticide exposure.

Mots clés: sustainability indicator; organic food consumption; dietary score; dietary greenhouse gas emission; cumulative energy demand; diet monetary cost; dietary pesticide exposure; observational data

Domaines: Sciences du Vivant [q-bio]; Alimentation et Nutrition

Julia Baudry, Philippe Pointereau, Louise Seconda, Rodolphe Vidal, Bruno Taupier-Letage, et al.. Improvement of diet sustainability with increased level of organic food in the diet: findings from the BioNutriNet cohort. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2019, 109 (4), pp.1173-1188. ⟨10.1093/ajcn/nqy361⟩. ⟨hal-02487493⟩