The Swedish Low Carb(on) Diet

Out with the Atkins Diet, in with the Climate Diet. Of course you’ve heard of the low-carb diet, but is the low-carbon diet next?

This month, Sweden became the first country to post carbon emissions associated with food items. Officials at the Nutrition Administration believe familiarizing people with these numbers will reduce its nation’s carbon footprint.

America, too, should start to consider the best alternative to inform individuals of their carbon footprint--sensible solutions can exist.

The Swedish method of listing the exact amount of CO2 per kilogram is perplexing albeit a commendable first step. In fact, most Swedes admit they are not quite sure what the numbers indicate. Designating a percentage according to a food’s associated carbon footprint would be a revolutionary method to inform the consumer.

One example on an oatmeal box reads, “Climate declared: .87 kg CO2 per kg of product.” Opponents argue that labeling food is meaningless if no one understands the scale. A percentage, on the other hand, would instantly give consumers a benchmark for reasonable footprint.

FDA or EPA officials could require manufacturers to label food with the percent of carbon emissions used to produce and transport foods out of a suggested daily value. For example, a serving of Cheerios might be something like 3% of our suggested carbon emission per day.

Nutrition labels do not post calorie content as a percentage because each individual has different requirements based on metabolism or exercise. On the other hand, carbon labels can exist as percentages because, regardless of height or weight, every American can aim to produce equally small carbon footprints.

The Carbon Trust, a private organization in the UK, works alongside companies to determine their products’ carbon footprint. While the UK does not yet require labels, the algorithm exists and experts have already developed a suggested footprint. The BBC puts it in context: “… the government recommends a target of 7.9 tonnes of annual consumption of CO2 in 2009, which means 21kg per person per day; drinking a smoothie means consuming 2,700g of CO2, or 8% of our daily allowance."

In Sweden, health officials believe that environmentally friendly diets go hand-in-hand with healthy diets. The head of the Swedish Nutrition Department, Ulf Bohman, said, “We’re used to thinking about safety and nutrition as one thing and environmental as another.”

Foods, which require more production, have higher associated carbon emissions. Author of “The Ominvore’s Dilemma,” Michael Pollan recently appeared on Good Morning America speaking to the connection between food and its carbon footprint. He said, "You're eating oil [when you're eating a burger]. You need oil to make the fertilizer to grow the corn. You need petroleum to make the pesticides to grow the corn. You need oil to move it all around the country."