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A study shows that air pollution causes 75,000 premature deaths a year in China.
The study, published in the journal Nature Food, is the first to examine how changes in diet in China from 1980-2010 have increased emissions of agricultural ammonia fromfertilizer and livestock manure.
In East Asia and particularly China, there has been a significant increase in meat production over the past 50 years.
This study is the first to quantify the impact of Chinese diet changes on air quality, which is known to be bad for human health.
Fine particulate matter air pollution is a serious environmental risk to human health and is associated with a range of adverse health conditions.
NH3 is an important component of fine particulate matter air pollution because it reacts with other airborne chemicals.
The Chinese University of Hong Kong and the University of Exeter formed a research group in order to promote international, inter-disciplinary research addressing some of the most important environmental challenges facing societies across the world.
The researchers found that meat production in China increased from 15 to 80 megaton over the course of 30 years.
Changing diet was the reason for the remaining 60 megatons.
In the same time period, agricultural ammonia emissions were found to have almost doubled, and the researchers estimated that the main driver was meat consumption.
The majority of the deaths related to particle matter pollution in 2010 could be attributed to rising demand for meat, based on this.
The study found that if the Chinese diet was less meat-intensive, it would reduce agricultural ammonia emissions and the harmful effects of air pollution.
It estimated that if the average Chinese diet was replaced with a less meat-intensive diet, ammonia emissions would decrease and 74,805 deaths could be avoided.
Professor XiaoyuYan said that a top priority of China in the 1980s was to satisfy the people's basic food demand.
As the problem of undernourishment has decreased, a more sustainable path for production and consumption of food is needed. The current trajectory of food choices in China needs to be altered to reduce its effects on both human and environmental health.
The co-author of the paper said that they show that changing food consumption patterns can lead to improved health through more healthy diet.
The researchers found that there were differences between the rich and poor.
The adverse health effects of eating more meat are mostly experienced by those who can afford it, but the effects due to increased levels of air pollution are experienced by those living on lower incomes in major agricultural regions.
ProfessorYan said that the inequalities demonstrate an ethical aspect of meat consumption that deserves attention.
Nature Food has information about the effects of diet on premature deaths related to pollution in China. There is a DOI titled " 10.1038/s43016-021-00430-6).
Nature Food journal information.
There are 75,000 Chinese deaths a year due to pollution from meat-eating.
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