title: Comparison of the carbon footprint of different patient diets in a Spanish hospital.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Mitigating climate change requires management strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in any sector, including the health system. Carbon footprint calculations should play a key role in quantifying and communicating these emissions. Food is among the categories with low accuracy because the carbon footprint for food is still under development. We aimed to quantify the carbon footprint of different diets.
  
  
  METHODS
  Average carbon footprint for a normal diet was based on detailed composition data in Juan Ramón Jiménez Hospital (Huelva, Spain). In addition, the carbon footprints of 17 other therapeutic diets were estimated using a streamlined variation of each diet published by Benidorm Clinical Hospital (Spain).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The carbon footprint was calculated for 18 hospital diets for a variety of patients. The reference menu corresponds to the normal diet provided to patients who do not have special dietary requirements. This menu has a low carbon footprint of 5.083 CO₂ eq/day.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Hospital diets contribute to the carbon footprint of a hospital. The type of diet has a significant impact on the greenhouse gas emissions. A Mediterranean diet is associated with lower environmental impact than diets with more meat, in particular red meat.
authors.affiliation: Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering and Construction, Universitat Jaume I, Spain vidal@uji.es.
authors.forename: Rosario
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Vidal
authors.affiliation: Research Associate, Department of Mechanical Engineering and Construction, Universitat Jaume I, Spain.
authors.forename: Enrique
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Moliner
authors.affiliation: Research Fellow, Department of Mechanical Engineering and Construction, Universitat Jaume I, Spain.
authors.forename: Andrej
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pikula
authors.affiliation: Professor, Department of Engineering Design and Projects, University of Huelva, Spain.
authors.forename: Angel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mena-Nieto
authors.affiliation: Director of Health Services, Juan Ramón Jiménez Hospital Area, Spain.
authors.forename: Agustín
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ortega
mesh_terms: D058572:Carbon Footprint; D004032:Diet / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005521:Food Service, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D013030:Spain
keywords: Mediterranean diet; carbon footprint; hospital diets