Adherence to the EAT-Lancet Dietary Recommendations for a Healthy and Sustainable Diet—The Case of the Brazuca Natal Study

Abstract

Background: The “EAT-Lancet Commission Summary Report” commission remodeled the concept of healthy and sustainable diets by proposing a “diet for the Anthropocene”, encouraging the development of indices that measure adherence to sustainable diets with a planetary scope. We aimed to report the adherence of adults and elderly people in a northeastern Brazilian capital to the EAT-Lancet recommendations. Methods: We used data from 411 participants in the population-based study. The dietary data were collected with Globodiet, over a standardized 24 h. The diet sustainability data were verified using the Planetary Health Diet Index (PHDI). A Pearson correlation test verified the correlation between the PHDI and the independent variables. We conducted linear regression models that were adjusted for potential confounding variables to examine the correlation between the adherence to the PHDI and the independent variables. Results: The mean total score for the adherence to the PHDI was 29.4 points in a score with a possible range from 0 to 150. Regarding the component scores, the highest scores in the adequacy component were for fruits, followed by legumes and vegetables, while the lowest scores in the moderation group were for animal fat and red meat. We observed, in the final model, that the explanatory variables for the PHDI were being male and not consuming alcohol, which were directly related to the PHDI, while having 1 to 9 years of study and being food insecure were indirectly related to the score. Conclusions: Our results showed a low adherence to a sustainable eating pattern, far from the EAT-Lancet recommendations.