Adequate Vitamin D Intake Cannot Be Achieved within Carbon Emission Limits Unless Food Is Fortified: A Simulation Study
DSM Nutrition Products, Wurmisweg 576, CH-4303 Kaiseraugst, Switzerland
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Academic Editor: Spyridon N. Karras
Nutrients 2021, 13(2), 592; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13020592
Received: 30 December 2020
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Revised: 7 February 2021
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Accepted: 8 February 2021
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Published: 11 February 2021
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Vitamin D in the New Decade: Facts, Controversies, and Future Perspectives for Daily Clinical Practice)
This study applied linear programming using a Dutch “model diet” to simulate the dietary shifts needed in order to optimize the intake of vitamin D and to minimize the carbon footprint, considering the popularity of the diet. Scenarios were modelled without and with additional fortified bread, milk, and oil as options in the diets. The baseline diet provided about one fifth of the adequate intake of vitamin D from natural food sources and voluntary vitamin D-fortified foods. Nevertheless, when optimizing this diet for vitamin D, these food sources together were insufficient to meet the adequate intake required, unless the carbon emission and calorie intake were increased almost 3-fold and 2-fold, respectively. When vitamin D-fortified bread, milk, and oil were added as options to the diet, along with increases in fish consumption, and decreases in sugar, snack, and cake consumption, adequate intakes for vitamin D and other nutrients could be met within the 2000 kcal limits, along with a relatively unchanged carbon footprint. Achieving vitamin D goals while reducing the carbon footprint by 10% was only possible when compromising on the popularity of the diet. Adding vitamin D to foods did not contribute to the total carbon emissions. The modelling study shows that it is impossible to obtain adequate vitamin D through realistic dietary shifts alone, unless more vitamin D-fortified foods are a necessary part of the diet.
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MDPI and ACS Style
Bruins, M.J.; Létinois, U. Adequate Vitamin D Intake Cannot Be Achieved within Carbon Emission Limits Unless Food Is Fortified: A Simulation Study. Nutrients 2021, 13, 592. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13020592
AMA Style
Bruins MJ, Létinois U. Adequate Vitamin D Intake Cannot Be Achieved within Carbon Emission Limits Unless Food Is Fortified: A Simulation Study. Nutrients. 2021; 13(2):592. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13020592
Chicago/Turabian StyleBruins, Maaike J., and Ulla Létinois. 2021. "Adequate Vitamin D Intake Cannot Be Achieved within Carbon Emission Limits Unless Food Is Fortified: A Simulation Study" Nutrients 13, no. 2: 592. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13020592
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