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Food nitrogen footprint reductions related to a balanced Japanese diet

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Abstract

Dietary choices largely affect human-induced reactive nitrogen accumulation in the environment and resultant environmental problems. A nitrogen footprint (NF) is an indicator of how an individual’s consumption patterns impact nitrogen pollution. Here, we examined the impact of changes in the Japanese diet from 1961 to 2011 and the effect of alternative diets (the recommended protein diet, a pescetarian diet, a low-NF food diet, and a balanced Japanese diet) on the food NF. The annual per capita Japanese food NF has increased by 55% as a result of dietary changes since 1961. The 1975 Japanese diet, a balanced omnivorous diet that reportedly delays senescence, with a protein content similar to the current level, reduced the current food NF (15.2 kg N) to 12.6 kg N, which is comparable to the level in the recommended protein diet (12.3 kg N). These findings will help consumers make dietary choices to reduce their impacts on nitrogen pollution.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported in part by the Environment Research and Technology Development Fund (S-14), Ministry of the Environment, Japan.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Environment and Information Sciences, Yokohama National University, 79-7 Tokiwadai, Hodogaya, Yokohama, 240-8501, Japan

    Azusa Oita & Hiroyuki Matsuda

  2. Central Research Laboratory, Tokyo Innovation Center, Nippon Suisan Kaisha, Ltd., 1-32-3 Nanakuni, Hachioji, Tokyo, 192-0991, Japan

    Ichiro Nagano

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  1. Azusa Oita
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  2. Ichiro Nagano
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Correspondence to Azusa Oita.

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Oita, A., Nagano, I. & Matsuda, H. Food nitrogen footprint reductions related to a balanced Japanese diet. Ambio 47, 318–326 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-017-0944-4

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