The influence of eating habits on the nutrient balance in Austria / Der Einfluss von Ernährungsgewohnheiten auf die Nährstoffbilanz Österreichs

Autor(en)
Simon Thaler, Matthias Zessner, M. M. Mayr, Tamara Haider, Helmut C. Kroiss, Karl-Heinz Wagner, Katerina Ruzicka
Abstrakt

Summary: The production of food needed for nutrition involves the use of resources. Nutrients are appiered as fertilisers on agricultural land used for producing food and animal fodder. The products harvested from these areas, however, do not absorb all the fertiliser applied. A portion of these nutrients is washed into the streams and rivers, while another part finds its way into the atmosphere in the form of NHx, NOx, N2O or N2. This article is intended to describe all relevant nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) flows involved in the production and consumption of foodstuffs. It also presents the changes that would be brought about in these flows by applying the scenarios presented in the guidelines issued by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Ernährung - DGE (German nutrition society).Fertiliser and animal feed amounting to almost 20 kg of N and 3 kg of P per inhabitant and year must at present be either imported to Austria or manufactured using ammonia synthesis.Should the Austrian population change its diet in the direction of recommended eating habits and food self-sufficiency, the import requirements could be reduced by 37 for N and 20 for P. As a result, the nutrient emissions to the water bodies would drop by 15 for N and 5 for P. This effect would be further enhanced on the assumption of an additional reduction of NHx deposition when neighbouring countries were also to change their eating and food production habits. If the areas that would no longer be needed for food production as a result of dietary changes were to be used for producing renewable raw materials, this would in turn reduce the decrease in resource requirements and emissions. Dietary change in Austria would result in a clear increase of resource efficiency in the nutrition process.

Organisation(en)
Department für Ernährungswissenschaften
Externe Organisation(en)
Technische Universität Wien, Österreichische Vereinigung für Agrar-, Lebens- und Umweltwissenschaftliche Forschung
Journal
Österreichische Wasser- und Abfallwirtschaft
Band
63
Seiten
117-128
Anzahl der Seiten
12
ISSN
0945-358X
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00506-011-0292-8
Publikationsdatum
2011
Peer-reviewed
Ja
ÖFOS 2012
303009 Ernährungswissenschaften
Sustainable Development Goals
SDG 2 – Kein Hunger, SDG 7 – Bezahlbare und saubere Energie, SDG 8 – Menschenwürdige Arbeit und Wirtschaftswachstum, SDG 12 – Nachhaltige/r Konsum und Produktion
Link zum Portal
https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/de/publications/the-influence-of-eating-habits-on-the-nutrient-balance-in-austria--der-einfluss-von-ernahrungsgewohnheiten-auf-die-nahrstoffbilanz-oesterreichs(c6c0704d-11f6-4b4f-b513-db9d6701bc4f).html