Traditional Atlantic Diet and Its Effect on Health and the Environment: A Secondary Analysis of the GALIAT Cluster Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: The universal call to action for healthier and more sustainable dietary choices is the framework of the United Nations's Sustainable Development Goals. The Atlantic diet, originating from the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula, represents an example of a traditional diet that aligns with these principles. Objective: To explore a 6-month intervention based on the Atlantic diet's effects on metabolic and environmental health, assessing metabolic syndrome (MetS) incidence and the carbon footprint. Design, Setting, and Participants: The Galician Atlantic Diet study was a 6-month randomized clinical trial designed to assess the effects of this regional traditional diet on families' eating habits. The study was conducted from March 3, 2014, to May 29, 2015, at a local primary health care center in the rural town of A Estrada in northwestern Spain and involved a multisectoral collaboration. Families were randomly selected from National Health System records and randomized 1:1 to an intervention or control group. This secondary analysis of the trial findings was performed between March 24, 2021, and November 7, 2023. Interventions: Over 6 months, families in the intervention group received educational sessions, cooking classes, written supporting material, and foods characteristic of the Atlantic diet, whereas those randomized to the control group continued with their habitual lifestyle. Main Outcomes and Measures: The main outcomes were MetS incidence, defined per National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III guidelines, and carbon footprint emissions as an environmental metric using life cycle assessment with daily dietary intake as the functional unit. Results: Initially, 250 families were randomized (574 participants; mean [SD] age, 46.8 [15.7] years; 231 males [40.2%] and 343 females [59.8%]). The intervention group included 126 families (287 participants) and the control group, 124 families (287 participants). Ultimately, 231 families completed the trial. The intervention significantly reduced the risk of incident cases of MetS (rate ratio, 0.32; 95% CI, 0.13-0.79) and had fewer MetS components (proportional odds ratio, 0.58; 95% CI, 0.42-0.82) compared with the control condition. The intervention group did not have a significantly reduced environmental impact in terms of carbon footprint emissions compared with the control group (-0.17 [95% CI, -0.46 to 0.12] kg CO2 equivalents/person/d). Conclusions and Relevance: These findings provide important evidence that a family-focused dietary intervention based on a traditional diet can reduce the risk of incident MetS. Further research is needed to understand the underlying mechanisms and determine the generalizability to other populations, taking into account regional cultural and dietary variations. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02391701.

Process modeling, environmental and economic sustainability of the valorization of whey and eucalyptus residues for resveratrol biosynthesis.

Biomass is one of the renewable resources with the greatest potential, not only because of the possibility of energy recovery but also because of its content in components of interest. In this context, the regions of Galicia and Portugal have large areas of land dedicated to forestry, agriculture and livestock, and the large amount of waste generated represents a cost for the producer. The importance of these facts has aroused great interest in society to focus its interest on improving the current situation while seeking a benefit, both environmental and economic, from existing resources. That is why the integration of biotechnological processes and biorefinery for their valorization are considered key aspects in the way of producing bioproducts and bioenergy. This research article proposes a process for producing resveratrol from whey from the dairy industry and eucalyptus residues from forestry exploitation. In order to evaluate its suitability, a techno-economic analysis and an environmental assessment have been carried out using the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology. The results obtained show the potential of these scenarios both from the economic point of view, by obtaining a minimum sale price of resveratrol to ensure the viability of the process below the market average, and from the environmental point of view, being eucalyptus residues those that result in a lower contribution to the environment per unit of resveratrol produced. Future research should focus on increasing the throughput of the production process to increase its profitability and on reducing energy requirements throughout the process, as these have been the main critical points identified. In addition, following the sensitivity assessment, it has been concluded that opting for renewable energy is the most sustainable option.

Water-Energy-Food nexus index proposal as a sustainability criterion on dairy farms.

Cow milk is a fundamental nutrients source for the human diet at all stages of life. However, the decline in cow milk consumption over the years has been driven by increased consumer awareness of animal welfare and the environmental burdens associated. In this regard, different initiatives have emerged to mitigate the impacts of livestock farming, but many of them without addressing the multi-perspective view of environmental sustainability. Thus, the Water-Energy-Food (WEF) nexus emerges as a framework to consider the complex synergies among carbon emissions, water demand, energy requirements and food production. In this study, a novel and harmonised WEF nexus approach has been proposed and applied to evaluate a set of 100 dairy farms. For that, the assessment, normalisation, and weighting of three lifecycle indicators such as carbon, water and energy footprints, as well as the milk yield were carried out to obtain a single value, the WEF nexus index (WEFni), which varies from 0 to 100. Results show that the WEF nexus scores obtained vary from 31 to 90, demonstrating large differences among the farms assessed. A cluster ranking was performed to identify those farms with the worst WEF nexus indexes. For this group, consisting of 8 farms with an average WEFni of 39, three improvement actions focused on the feeding, digestive process and wellbeing of the cows were applied to determine the potential reduction in the two main hotspots identified: cow feeding and milk production level. The proposed methodology can establish a roadmap for promoting a more environmentally sustainable food industry, although further studies are still required in the pathway of a standardised WEFni.

Methodological guidelines for the calculation of a Water-Energy-Food nexus index for seafood products.

Indicators from life cycle assessment methodologies (i.e., footprints) have emerged as useful tools for identifying and communicating the environmental impacts of a system thanks to they are accessible and intuitive and easy to understand to non-expert public. However, the focus on a single environmental problem is one of their main drawbacks. From this idea arises the concept of Water-Energy-Food (WEF) nexus, with the aim of raising awareness of the connections between the universal rights to water supply, energy security and food provision. Regarding the latter, the fisheries sector stands out as a fundamental pillar in the fight against malnutrition. In this sense, the European project "blue growth" aims to ensure that the development of the marine sector is not linked to the degradation of its ecosystems. However, although producers and authorities are willing to communicate the sustainability of products, there is still no standard methodology for reporting it. With the purpose of remedying this current situation, this paper aims to provide technical guidance to calculate a single WEF nexus index for ecolabelling seafood products in the European framework (Atlantic area). Therefore, through this, it is expected to create a useful communication channel between producers and consumers through an easy-to-read ecolabel. Nonetheless, certain aspects, such as the footprints selected or the calculation procedures selected have to be reconsidered to refine the methodology proposed, apart from broadening the approach to other food sectors with the aim that the proposed eco-certification can be present in major supply and retail chains.

Improving the sustainability of heterogeneous Fenton-based methods for micropollutant abatement by electrochemical coupling.

Advanced oxidation processes such as Fenton reaction-based processes have attracted great interest in recent years as a promising alternative for the removal of persistent pollutants in wastewater. The use of nanocatalysts in advanced oxidation processes overcomes the limitations of homogeneous Fenton processes, where acidic pH values are required, and a large amount of sludge is generated after treatment. Aiming at maximizing the catalytic potential of the process, different configurations include coupling photocatalysis or electrochemistry to Fenton reactions. This manuscript presents a comparative environmental and economic analysis of different heterogeneous Fenton-based process using magnetic nanoparticles: Fenton, photo-Fenton, electro-Fenton and photoelectron-Fenton. These alternatives encompass not only different reaction conditions but also varying degradation kinetics, which control the treatment capability in each specific case. It is not only important to determine the technological feasibility of the proposal based on the removal performance of the target compounds, but also to identify the environmental profile of each configuration. In this regard, the Life Cycle Assessment methodology was applied considering a combination of primary and secondary data from process modeling. Moreover, and aiming towards the future large-scale implementation of the technology, an economic analysis of each configuration was also performed to provide a better understanding about the costs associated to the operation of Fenton-based wastewater treatments.

Towards a Green Port strategy: The decarbonisation of the Port of Vigo (NW Spain).

Carbon footprint (CF) has become a crucial piece to develop strategies to tackle the climate change issue. Its implementation makes it possible establishing a path towards decarbonisation with the aim to comply with European and global greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions guidelines and commitments. Currently, several tools for calculating the CF are available. However, the differences in the calculation methodology and data collection prevent comparative studies based on the results obtained to be made. For this reason, CEDEX (Centro de Estudios y Experimentación de Obras Públicas), commissioned by Puertos del Estado, prepared a good practice guide with a common methodology for calculating the CF of Spanish Ports. In this study, we tested this standardized methodology for the first time in the Port of Vigo (NW Spain) during a four-year period (2017-2020), developing a web tool to facilitate its application, with the ultimate aim to extend its implementation nationwide. This work demonstrates the suitability of the CEDEX methodology to quantify the CF in harbours, and to assess the interannual evolution of the emissions, thus facilitating the assessment of the different environmental strategies implemented in the port to achieve the emissions reduction targets. The main CF loads are derived from the loading/unloading operations, due to the consumption of fuel, accounting to a value of 14,161 kg CO2 eq per TEU (twenty-foot equivalent unit). With the implementation of the methodology developed in this study, a reduction of 55 % of GHG emissions could be achieved in all port activities, thus complying with the objectives of the European Green Deal for 2030.

Blue carbon accounting as metrics to be taken into account towards the target of GHG emissions mitigation in fisheries.

The adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development must address the balance between sustainable growth and tackling climate change. In this context, forests can help to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, unfortunately, equivalent solutions in the ocean are often overlooked. Moreover, the complexity in determining the real impact of fishing on the environment is not a trivial issue. Thus, the aim of this study is to broaden the scope and analyse, for the first time, the entire carbon cycle associated with the life cycle of a fish: Scomber scombrus from a fishery located in the Cantabrian Sea (Spain). From this carbon cycle assessment, it is estimated that fishing activity has prevented 871.7 t of carbon (in terms of blue carbon) from being sequestered each year. This value comes from the fraction of fish that would have died of natural causes if they had not been caught, reaching the seabed, and undergoing remineralisation processes of the carbon content of their bodies. Beyond these results, it is vital to implement a series of actions with the aim of counteracting the amount of carbon that could have been sequestered on the seabed by the natural death of the fishes if they had not been caught. To this end, it is shown that the implementation of technical improvements to the vessels, the replacement of the current fuel used and the rearrangement of shipping routes in combination with an extension in the closed fishing season and a commitment to an omnivorous diet, allows for a reduction in carbon flow of almost 90 % of the blue carbon that has been prevented from being sequestered by fisheries. A consequential approach can then identify the influence of the proposed changes on their corresponding carbon flows for use as decision criteria in regulating fisheries and environmental management policies.

Environmental synergies in decentralized wastewater treatment at a hotel resort.

Climate change and water scarcity are clearly related environmental problems, making them global environmental issues. Accordingly, the water cycle management deserves a revision in its approach, integrating the concept of circular economy within an efficient and sustainable management of water resources and the design of wastewater facilities. In this sense, newly engineered decentralized facilities have emerged as a viable option for the treatment of segregated wastewater flows. The design has not only integrated the wastewater treatment function, but also resource recovery, such as water reclamation for agricultural and irrigation activities, fertigation, fertilization and energy sustainability. Based on these premises, the concept of decentralized wastewater management deserves the same degree of attention and development that has so far been reserved for conventional centralized management systems. Therefore, this paper proposes a progressive substitution of the business-as-usual scenario or centralized system by applying a small-scale wastewater management scheme performing a more efficient resource and water recovery in a medium-sized 4-5-star resort hotel. The spotlight was a membrane technology for the anaerobic digestion of the blackwater instead of the greywater treatment. A favorable environmental profile was found for the decentralized scenario under two circumstances: a large system boundary including the beneficial environmental impacts of the products and, based on the results obtained from a sensitivity analysis, an energy demand for the operation of the AnMBR lower than 2 kWh·m-3. The global warming potential results (around 9%) were even for such high demand and much larger benefits were obtained for other impact categories (94% for SOD and 98% for LU). Nevertheless, the operation (gate-to-gate approach) of these on-site recovery facilities is far from being optimized and further research should follow to decrease the 39.8% difference in the global warming potential between decentralized and centralized systems.

Co-benefits of the EAT-Lancet diet for environmental protection in the framework of the Spanish dietary pattern.

The immediate need to build resilient food systems with lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and protection of water resources is a global challenge. To address this, the EAT-Lancet Commission described the global reference diet with principles of nutritional quality and environmental sustainability. With this in mind, the carbon and water footprints of the current Spanish dietary pattern have been compared with the EAT-Lancet global dietary recommendations, taking into account deviations in food intake. To provide additional context, differences between the average Spanish dietary pattern and dietary guidelines applied in other countries in Europe (Italy, the Netherlands and the Mediterranean region) and America have also been analyzed and discussed from a sustainability approach. We found that the EAT-Lancet diet requires less water resources (3056 L·person-1·day-1) and lower level of GHG emissions (2.13 kgCO2eq·person-1·day-1) in comparison with the Spanish dietary pattern (3732 L·person-1·day-1 and 3.62 kgCO2eq·person-1·day-1, respectively). Starch-based products and oils and fats were identified as largest contributors to both environmental indicators in the EAT-Lancet diet. On the other hand, meat and dairy were the environmental hotspots in the Spanish dietary pattern. Comparison with other food-based dietary patterns also raises environmental concerns about the high meat consumption in Spain. Overall, this analysis suggests that reducing the consumption of beef meat and dairy to a level in line with the global environmental targets set by the EAT-Lancet Commission would ensure a shift in Spanish dietary habits towards more environmentally sustainable food consumption patterns.

Environmental comparison of banana waste valorisation strategies under a biorefinery approach.

Banana wastes can be valorised in bioethanol due to its high content in cellulose (more than 30% of total on a dry basis) and hemicelluloses (25% of total). Large amount of these wastes is generated during the banana cultivation and harvesting stage. This study proposes the use of, beside conventional acid sulphuric, different organic acids (tartaric, oxalic and citric) during acid pretreatment step, to suppress the unwanted compounds formation and improve bioethanol production. Instead, bioethanol production generates a solid waste flow that is managed in an anaerobic digestion plant, obtaining biogas, to be converted into energy, and digestate, considered as a potential biofertiliser. Life cycle assessment methodology is used to analyse the environmental profiles of four valorisation scenarios to produce bioethanol from banana peel waste. According to the results, reported per kilogram of bioethanol, the citric acid-based scenario has the worst environmental profile due to the background processes involved in the acid production (around 55% for most impact categories). Conversely, the oxalic acid-based scenario has the best environmental profile, with a decrease of around 20% and 35%, depending on the impact category, compared to the citric acid scenario. The energy requirements production (mostly thermal energy) is the main hotspot in numerous subsystems regardless of the scenario (ranging from 30% to 50% depending on the impact category). Therefore, the use of renewable energy sources to satisfy energy requirements combined with an energy optimisation of the valorisation strategies through the reuse of some internal steams, is proposed as improvement activities.

Driving commitment to sustainable food policies within the framework of American and European dietary guidelines.

Diet and nutrition are essential factors in promoting good health throughout life. Their role as determinants of chronic non-communicable diseases is widely recognized. Additionally, the demand for food involves relevant environmental burdens that have to be taken into account on the way to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. As an important part of nutrition policy, food-based dietary guidelines (FBDGs) have been revised. The key question is: Are environmental considerations being incorporated into them? To address this issue, we modeled and compared both the main environmental indicators in terms of carbon footprint (CF) and water footprint (WF), and nutritional quality (according to the Nutrient Rich Diet index, NRD9.3 and a health gain score) of dietary guidelines from Northern and Southern Europe and America. Particularly, the FBDGs compared were Dutch Dietary Guidelines (DDG), New Nordic Diet (NND), Spanish Strategy for Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity Prevention (NAOS), Mediterranean Diet (MD), Italian Dietary Guidelines (IDG) and American Dietary Guidelines (DGA). The IDG and MD offered the best profiles from a climate change perspective (2.04 and 2.21 kgCO2eq·day-1). Overall, DGA had the highest CF (2.98 kgCO2eq·day-1). WF presented greater fluctuations, not only due to daily-recommended amounts, but also because of different climate conditions and production systems of the reference countries. Hence, WF ranged from 1760 L·person-1·day-1 in IDG to 3181 L·person-1·day-1 in NAOS. Finally, the nutritional value of MD, which had the highest NRD9.3 (477) and health gain score (178), has been demonstrated when the comparison was made with DDG, the one with the lowest health gain score (97) and DGA, the worst in terms of NRD9.3 (391). To go ahead of the FBDGs that bet on all dimensions of sustainability, multi-criteria analysis is needed. Nutrition and environmental performance are not the only aspects of the problem; economy and sociocultural variables should be considered.

How decentralized treatment can contribute to the symbiosis between environmental protection and resource recovery.

Challenges associated with the sustainability of the water cycle pose new opportunities for resource recovery and greater environmental protection. While centralized wastewater treatment plants must evolve in their design and operation to adapt to a scenario of increasing demand for water, resources and energy, the decentralized approach emerges as an option to be considered in small communities or developing residential areas where bioenergy production can be improved through the recovery of organic matter in segregated streams or where the investment in the sewer network for connection to a centralized facility may be technologically or economically unfeasible. The main objective of this work is to evaluate the environmental and economic profile of a hybrid-decentralized configuration for the purpose of efficient wastewater management and resource recovery and its comparative evaluation with the centralized treatment scenario. Beyond water reclamation, decentralized treatment offers the possibility of valorization of digestate streams as nutrient sources for horticultural or ornamental crops in the vicinity of the plant. Based on the results of the environmental profile, this manuscript shows that the decentralized treatment approach is in line with the philosophy and guidelines of the circular economy, as it allows the use of reclaimed water and biofertilizers under safe and environmental-friendly conditions.

Environmental footprint of critical agro-export products in the Peruvian hyper-arid coast: A case study for green asparagus and avocado.

Peru has become one of the world's main agricultural hubs for a wide range of fruits and vegetables. Two of these products, avocado and green asparagus, have raised attention in recent years in the international scene from an environmental perspective due to the high amounts of water they require, as well as the long air and marine freighting distances to export these products to Europe, Asia or the US. Consequently, the aim of the current study was to perform an environmental assessment of these two products using two life-cycle methods: carbon and water footprint. For the latter, water scarcity, acidification, eco-toxicity and eutrophication impact categories have been selected for assessment. Inventory data were gathered from six different companies located in different regions of the hyper-arid Peruvian coast. The results report that the products are not carbon intensive and are in line with other similar plant-based products. Conversely, the hyper-arid conditions of the cultivation sites require a large volume of groundwater to fulfill the needs of the crops. Interestingly, even though this may lead to overexploitation of groundwater resources in the absence of appropriate management policies, the low mobility of pollutants, namely pesticides, constitutes a natural barrier to protect the degradation of natural water bodies. Similarly, highly technified irrigation systems have allowed minimizing the amounts of water used per hectare. In conclusion, results from this study may be useful in more concise environmental assessment studies on food products and diets, considering the consumption of these Peruvian products in many countries in the world. Furthermore, results are also important at regional level since they depict the carbon and water performance of these products and can also be accompanied by cross-cutting certification schemes, including Product Environmental Footprint Category Rules Guidance.

Exploiting the Potential of Supported Magnetic Nanomaterials as Fenton-Like Catalysts for Environmental Applications.

In recent years, the application of magnetic nanoparticles as alternative catalysts to conventional Fenton processes has been investigated for the removal of emerging pollutants in wastewater. While this type of catalyst reduces the release of iron hydroxides with the treated effluent, it also presents certain disadvantages, such as slower reaction kinetics associated with the availability of iron and mass transfer limitations. To overcome these drawbacks, the functionalization of the nanocatalyst surface through the addition of coatings such as polyacrylic acid (PAA) and their immobilization on a mesoporous silica matrix (SBA15) can be factors that improve the dispersion and stability of the nanoparticles. Under these premises, the performance of the nanoparticle coating and nanoparticle-mesoporous matrix binomials in the degradation of dyes as examples of recalcitrant compounds were evaluated. Based on the outcomes of dye degradation by the different functionalized nanocatalysts and nanocomposites, the nanoparticles embedded in a mesoporous matrix were applied for the removal of estrogens (E1, E2, EE2), accomplishing high removal percentages (above 90%) after the optimization of the operational variables. With the feasibility of their recovery in mind, the nanostructured materials represented a significant advantage as their magnetic character allows their separation for reuse in different successive sequential batch cycles.

Evaluation of Starch as an Environmental-Friendly Bioresource for the Development of Wood Bioadhesives.

The environment is a very complex and fragile system in which multiple factors of different nature play an important role. Pollution, together with resource consumption, is one of the main causes of the environmental problems currently affecting the planet. In the search for alternative production processes, the use of renewable resources seeks a way to satisfy the demands of resource consumption based on the premises of lower environment impact and less damage to human health. In the wood sector, the panel manufacturing process is based on the use of formaldehyde-based resins. However, their poor moisture resistance leads to hydrolysis of amino-methylene bonds, which induces formaldehyde emissions throughout the lifetime of the wood panel. This manuscript investigates the environmental profile associated with different wood bioadhesives based on starch functionalization as a renewable alternative to formaldehyde resins. Considering that this is a process under development, the conceptual design of the full-scale process will be addressed by process modeling and the environmental profile will be assessed using life cycle assessment methodology. A comparative study with synthetic resins will provide useful information for modify their development to become real alternatives in the wood-based panel industry. The results obtained show the enormous potential of starch bioadhesives, as their environmental impact values are lower compared to those based on petrochemicals. However, certain improvements in the energy process requirements and in the chemical agents used could be developed to provide even better results.

Multi-product strategy to enhance the environmental profile of the canning industry towards circular economy.

The sustainable and continued production of enough food to feed the entire world's population is one of the main concerns in the food industry. Spain, and in particular Galicia, which is an eminently fishing region characterised by the consumption of large quantities of fish, both fresh and processed, must face the challenge of shifting its seafood productive fabric towards a circular economy. To achieve this objective, the first task is to demonstrate that circular economy principles allow to reduce the environmental impacts associated with seafood production. In this sense, this study proposes the environmental evaluation of the skipjack tuna (Katsuwonus pelamis) value chain within a canning industry located in Galicia through the LCA methodology from an attributional perspective, including the valorisation processes for biowaste (edible and inedible by-products). Results indicate that the main crucial subsystems of the value chain are tuna fishing and the canning process, as it was expected considering other similar studies on seafood products. Moreover, this specific case study demonstrates that the multi-product strategy applied to the canning sector is environmentally viable. Thus, although the environmental impacts of the entire system are increased by including further valorisation operations, the environmental loads assigned to the main product (canned tuna) decrease compared to the one-product system by assigning environmental burdens to other value-added products (tuna pâté, fishmeal, and fish oil).

Reusable Fe3O4/SBA15 Nanocomposite as an Efficient Photo-Fenton Catalyst for the Removal of Sulfamethoxazole and Orange II.

Today, the presence of recalcitrant pollutants in wastewater, such as pharmaceuticals or other organic compounds, is one of the main obstacles to the widespread implementation of water reuse. In this context, the development of innovative processes for their removal becomes necessary to guarantee effluent quality. This work presents the potentiality of magnetic nanoparticles immobilized on SBA-15 mesoporous silica as Fenton and photo-Fenton catalysts under visible light irradiation. The influence of the characteristics of the compounds and nanoparticles on the removal yield was investigated. Once the key aspects of the reaction mechanism were analyzed, to evaluate the feasibility of this process, an azo dye (Orange II) and an antibiotic (sulfamethoxazole) were selected as main target compounds. The concentration of Orange II decreased below the detection limit after two hours of reaction, with mineralization values of 60%. In addition, repeated sequential experiments revealed the recoverability and stability of the nanoparticles in a small-scale reactor. The benchmarking of the obtained results showed a significant improvement of the process using visible light in terms of kinetic performance, comparing the results to the Fenton process conducted at dark. Reusability, yield and easy separation of the catalyst are its main advantages for the industrial application of this process.

Environmental consequences of wheat-based crop rotation in potato farming systems in galicia, Spain.

Intensive agricultural farming systems have negative impacts on the ecosystem. Therefore, the use of crop rotation emerges as an opportunity to improve the environmental sustainability of agricultural systems. In the region of Galicia in north-western Spain, potato and wheat are important commodities and essential foods in the diet. Hence, it is interesting to investigate the environmental profile of these crops to improve the understanding of local agrosystems. This study evaluated three agricultural crops managed under a crop rotation system and following a conventional arable farming: the main rotation crop, which is the potato in the first year (cP), followed by a second year of commercial wheat (cW) and autochthonous Galician wheat (GcW) in the third year. The Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology was performed using four types of functional units: in terms of productivity (kg-1); land management (ha-1∙year-1); a financial function (euros €-1 of income from sales) and energetic value (MJ-1). The environmental indicators selected are Climate Change (CC), Particulate Matter (PM), Terrestrial Acidification (TA), Freshwater Eutrophication (FE), Marine Eutrophication (ME), Human Toxicity (HT), Land Use (LU) and Fossil Depletion (FD). The figures show that the GcW has the lowest environmental impact when the functional units refer to land management, financial function and energetic value. However, if analysed in terms of productivity, cP is presented as the best crop due to its comparatively higher yield, reaching a production ratio 10 times higher than wheat. In the specific case of wheat, compared to a previous study in the same region, the environmental impacts are lower when grown in a crop rotation system in contrast to monoculture. This article demonstrates the relevance of using LCA for diverse stakeholders (e.g., farmers, consumers and researchers) to understand the environmental impacts of regional agricultural systems. In addition, it serves as a basis for future work aimed at comparing rotational agricultural systems in this region, integrating economic and social aspects.

Environmental assessment of menus for toddlers serviced at nursery canteen following the Atlantic diet recommendations.

Menus served at public services can be considered as a good opportunity for consumers to demand a service that ensures healthy and environmentally friendly food. It is especially in the sector of nurseries and schools, where these demands make the most sense since they call for the protection of particularly vulnerable population: children. The purpose of this study is to analyze the biweekly menus served at a public Spanish nursery canteen considering the link with the two most recognized environmental indicators: the consumptive water footprint (WF) and the carbon footprint (CF). The WF and CF of the menus vary considerably between menus (619-1359 L·menu-1 and 0.75-2.95 kg CO2eq·menu-1). The assessment has identified non-dairy sources of protein and dairy-based products as the key food categories in all menus. Menus with more meat (mostly beef) and dairy products (mainly cheese) were associated with higher impacts. That is, the average impact of menus with beef is about 2 times greater than the one of all other menus. The distribution and cooking stages presented negligible contributions in terms of greenhouse gases emissions, mainly due to the consumption of local/regional products and low-energy intensive cooking techniques. The most important strategy for reducing environmental impacts is based on reducing the frequency of consumption of beef, so that poultry and lean pork are consumed alternately. This reduction should not compromise the necessary protein intake for toddlers. Attention should also be paid to afternoon snacks that are rich in cold meat and dairy products. Considering these issues, significant reductions in WF and CF indicators could be achieved, up to 550 L·menu-1 and 0.70 kg CO2eq·menu-1. Since eating habits introduced at an early stage are more likely to develop into adult behaviour, children canteen services are an excellent opportunity to promote healthy eating habits in children and their families.

Environmental benefits of soy-based bio-adhesives as an alternative to formaldehyde-based options.

The restrictions imposed on the use of formaldehyde in wood panel adhesives have been the driving force behind the development of formaldehyde-free resins for the manufacture of wood products. Considering as a boundary condition the idea that the use of fossil-based raw materials should be replaced by biological options, there is growing interest in the environmental assessment of different alternatives for soy-based adhesives, as possible options to replace commonly used synthetic resins. This report includes the environmental profiles of soy-based adhesives taking into account the life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology. In addition, in order to increase their potential to replace synthetic resins, a sensitivity analysis of the main contributors to environmental damage was performed, thus giving an open guide for further research and improvement. This study aims to provide innovative alternatives and new trends in the field of environmentally friendly bio-adhesives for the wood panel industry.